This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 Excerpt: … direction. Question 278. How much more will the boiler expand than the frames in getting up steam? Answer. From to-fa of an inch. Question 279. Why is it necessary to support the engine on springs? Answer. Because, however well a road may be kept up, there will always be shocks in running over it; these occur at the rail joints and especially when the ballasting of the ties is not quite perfect. These shocks affect the wheels first, and by them are transferred through the axle-boxes to the frame, the engine and the boiler. The faster the locomotive runs, the more powerful do they become, and therefore the more destructive to the engine and road, and consequently the faster a locomotive has to run the more perfect should be the arrangement of the springs. The above answer and much of the material referring to springs has been translated from
Die Schole des Locomotivfuhrers, oy Messrs. J. Brosios and B. Koch. If we strike repeatedly with a hammer on a rail, the latter is soon destroyed, while it can bear without damage a much greater weight than the hammer lying quietly on it. The axles, axle-boxes and wheels strike like a hammer on the rails at each shock, while the shock of the rest of the parts of the engine first reaches and bends the springs, but on the rails has only the effect of a load greater than usual resting on them. Another comparison will make still plainer the lessening by the springs of the injurious effect which the weight of the boiler, etc., exercises on the rails. A light blow with a hammer on a pane of glass is sufficient to shatter it. If, however, on the pane of glass is laid some elastic substance, such as indiarubber, and we strike on that, the force of the blow or the weight of the hammer must be considerably increased …
