The American Design

 For the American railroad, drastic and unique changes were required in design.  John Bloomfield Jervis was determined to make those radical changes in locomotive design.  He built a low-swiveling locomotive with heavy drive wheels behind in 1832.  His Brother Jonathon was the first locomotive to have six wheels and was the fastest engine of its day, capable of speeds from 60-80 mph.

In 1842, the Mercury (right), by Joseph Harrison combined the flexible suspension of Jervis with equalized drive-wheel arrangement that reduced road shock and still with a light frame.  The Mercury carried passengers at a speed of 60 mph and traveled 37,000 miles in one year (1844), the greatest mileage of any engine at that time.

Compared to English locomotives which were known to be stable, heavy, well-made and models of precision and strength, American engines were "a crazy affair, as loose jointed as a basket" as one described them in 1879.  "The framework is light and open, yet strong.  The engine operates on a series of levers, balanced equally in every direction on a fulcrum.  Let the road follow its own wayward will...the basket-like flexibility of the frame and its supports adjust to the road at every instant of the journey."

Quite a different report from the one by the first rail riders.  This lightness, simplicity and flexibility would be just the answer the American railroad (and industrial design in general) needed.  America seemed to have solved their own rail problem.

Next time...Building for the future

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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 1, 1890, Yosemite National Park is established.  It is the home of the giant sequoia trees and Half Dome.  John Muir, an environmental trailblazer and his colleagues campaigned for the action of Congress to make Yosemite a national Park, and President Benjamin Harrison signed it into law.  Don't feed the bears!