The Balancing of Steam Locomotives: A Dynamical Problem of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries by PETER SIDNEY BARDELL A thesis submitted to the University of London for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy History of Science & Technology Group Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine December 1988 2 SUMMARY Following a brief survey of the prehistory of balancing and its emergence as a technique of vibration control early in the nineteenth century, this thesis examines the problem of steam locomotive balancing. From 1845 when the investigations of the Gauge Commission highlighted the importance of the stability of the locomotive at speed the subject occupied the attention of British engineers for over a century. The study examines the reasons for the persistence of the problem over such a prolonged period and the contribution of engineering science to the design of the locomotive. The thesis deals with the identification of the dynamical problem, the development of a theory of balancing and its presentation to engineers. Also considered here are some locomotive examples and proposals emanating from engineers dissatisfied with the inherent instability of the conventional two-cylinder engine. The relationship between locomotive practice and balancing is then traced. Economic aspects of bridge maintenance eventually focused the attention of engineers on the nub of the issue and culminated in the work of the Bridge stress Committee, during the mid-1920s, which clearly exposed the significance of the dynamic interaction between locomotive and track, and led to the introduction of proper balancing parameters in locomotive design. During the 1930s good balancing practice combined with 3 other rationalised design procedures enabled British express passenger locomotive practice to attain the peak of its achievement, although this was accomplished with three- and four-cylinder engines. Thereafter, the final phase of steam locomotion in Britain, which saw the production of the British Railways Standard Classes, convincingly demonstrated that with careful design it was possible to put powerful two-cylinder locomotives into service with hammer-blow characteristics considerably superior to those permitted in the recommendations of the Bridge Stress Committee. Far from being resolved, however, the issue was directed once more to the effects of horizontal forces on the locomotive - its point of origin a hundred years earlier. Acknowledgements My grateful thanks are expressed to Dr N.A.F. Smith and to Professor A. Rupert Hall, whose initial interest and encouragement laid the foundation for this piece of work, also to the History of Science and Technology Group at Imperial College for the stimulus which has sustained this work throughout its progress. A special word of thanks is due to Dr S.A. Smith and to Mr R. Spain for their discussion and helpful comments which have been of considerable assistance to me. In particular my gratitude is due to Dr N.A.F. Smith for his guidance throughout the period during which the research was carried out and for his valuable critical analysis of my work as the thesis was written. Without the support and understanding of my family this work could not have been completed and my indebtedness to Anne, my wife, and to Andrew, Mary, Jane and Matthew is gratefully acknowledged. I also record my thanks to Mrs Susan Buchanan, for secretarial assistance, and to Miss Ainslee Rutledge for typing this thesis. For their kind permission to use material included in the thesis I express my thanks to the following: Messrs Ian Allan Ltd Fig.7.7 5 Birmingham Public Libraries Fig.1.2 Messrs Blackie & Son Ltd Figs.3.5, 3.6, 3.7 British Museum Fig.2.4 Greater Manchester Museum of Science and Industry Trust Figs.3.8-3.12 H.M. Stationery Office Figs.6.1-6.12, 6.17, 6.18 Institution of Mechanical Engineers Figs.3.17, 3.18, 4.17, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.13, 7.3-7.6 Mr B.C. Lane Fig.6.16 Museum of Science and Industry, Birmingham Figs.1.1, 4.9 National Railway Museum, York Figs.5.1-5.4, 5.9, 5.10, 7.1 , 7.2, 7-8, 7.9. Appendix 3 6 CONTENTS Page Summary 2 Acknowledgements 4 List of illustrations 9 Chapter 1 : Introduction 14 1. Background to the Study 15 2. The Prehistory of Balancing : Rotary Motion 20 3. Grain Mills 22 4. Windmills and Watermills 30 5. The Lathe ; 'Balancing* enters history 33 6. Heaton's Steam Carriage 38 Chapter 2 : The Railway Locomotive 49 1. Early locomotives and speed 50 2. Accidents 55 3. Stability of the locomotive 60 a. Steam pressure reaction 61 b. Height of the centre of gravity 64 c. Coned Wheels 67 4. The Problem Identified 70 5. The Gauge Commission and its Report 75 6. The Early Use of Balance Weights in 83 Locomotives Chapter 3 : Balancing - Theory and Practice: The 105 Second Half of the Nineteenth Century 1. The Theory of William Fernihough 106 2. The Emergence Of a Theory of Balancing 112 3. Nollau's Experimental Work 118 4. The Mathematical Work of H. Nollau 121 5. H. Nollau - Concluding Comments 123 6. The Work of Louis Le Chatelier 127 7. D.K. Clark 135 8. Rules-of-Thumb 142 9. Confused Views 150 10. The Deteriorating Situation 156 11. Graphical Analysis 159 12. a. The Contribution of W.E. Dalby 160 b. 'The Balancing of Locomotives' 162 c. The Adoption of Dalby's Method 166 13. a. Locomotive Testing 172 b. The Work of W.F. Goss at Purdue 173 c. Other Views ~ ' 180 14. Final Comments 186 7 Chapter 4 : Some Unconventional Locomotives 206 1. Single-cylinder Locomotives 209 2. Opposed-pistons working in a Cylinder 218 a. The designs of John George Bodmer 218 b. J.G. Bodmer - concluding remarks 235 c. Ritchie’s Locomotive 237 3. The use of reciprocating balance masses 239 a. The Patent of A.W. Makinson and 245 W.F. Batho b. The Krauss Locomotive 247 c. French 2-8-2 Tank Engines 251 d. Contra-rotating balance weights 252 4. Multi-cylinder locomotives 254 a. The Three-cylinder Locomotive of Isaac 256 Dodds and William Owen b. The Balanced Locomotives of Stephenson 259 and Howe c. The 'Duplex’ Passenger Express Engine 261 d. H.F. Shaw's Four-cylinder Balanced 266 Locomotive 5. Designs avoiding the use of reciprocating 268 steam engines a. The Jet Reaction Steam Locomotive 269 b. Steam-Turbine Locomotives 272 Chapter 5 : The Missed Opportunity 286 1. Multi-cylinder propulsion 290 2. The First Four-cylinder Locomotives 291 3. The ’Decapod' 296 4. The Designs of G.J. Churchward and Sir 302 Vincent Raven 5. The Preference of H.N. Gresley for Three- 309 Cylinder Locomotives 6. General Conditions 317 Chapter 6 : The Permanent Way and the Bridge Stress 346 Committee 1. Early Train-Track Experience 347 2. The Safety of Iron Bridges 355 3. Ministry of Transport Tests on Railway 363 Bridges 4. The Bridge Stress Committee and its 374 Work a. Aims 378 b. Experimental Work 381 c. Mathematical Analysis 389 d. The Locomotives Used in the Tests 395 Chapter 7 : To the End of Steam 425 1. Aftermath of the Bridge Stress Committee 426 Report 2. The Final Phase 444 3. The Post-War Period 460 Chapter 8 : Concluding Remarks 481 Appendix 1 George Heaton 503 Appendix 2 W.E. Dalby's Semi-Graphical Method of 509 Balancing Appendix 3 Balancing of Locomotives. L.M. & S.R. Loco. 519 Drawing Office, Crewe, 1939 ' 9 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page Syllabus of a Course of Lectures at the 34 Birmingham Philosophical Institution Heaton's Steam Carriage, 1830 39 Trevithick's 'Cornwall', 1847 65 Colburn's Design of Locomotive Double Boilers, 66 with Driving Axle Between MM. Blavier and Larpent's Locomotive, 66 'L'Aigle', 1855 Rastrick's 'Stourbridge Lion' 90 The Simple Engine Mechanism 109 Nollau's diagram of the piston, connecting-rod 115 and crank mechanism Title page of Louis Le Chatelier's 'Etudes sur 126 la stabilite des Machines Locomotives en Mouvement' Le Chatelier's oscillation diagrams from a 1 27 passenger engine D.K. Clark's diagram showing the horizontal 138 disturbance of a locomotive in motion D.K. Clark's diagram illustrating the 139 variation in vertical force between wheel and rail D.K. Clark's rules for the determination of 141 balance weights Balancing calculations for Beyer, Peacock 2-2-2 1 45 locomotive for the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway, 1856 Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway, 2-2-2 Locomotive, 146 1856 Beyer, Peacock 'As built' drawing of the 147 Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway, 2-2-2 locomotive, 1856 10 Balancing calculations for Beyer, Peacock 148 0-4-0T engine for the Great North of Scotland Railway, 1855 Beyer, Peacock 'As built' drawing of the Great 149 North of Scotland Railway, 0-4-0T engine, 1855 The Locomotive 'Shenectady' in the Engineering 174 Laboratory, Purdue University Arrangement for feeding lengths of iron wire 175 beneath the driving wheels of the locomotive Graph showing wire deformation 176 Graph illustrating lack of contact between 176 wheel and rail W.E. Dalby's graph showing variation in wheel- 182 rail contact force for an Inside Cylinder Single Engine W.E. Dalby's graph comparing driving torque 183 with the couple resisting slipping for an express passenger engine W. Neilson's single-cylinder locomotive 215 J.G. Bodmer's first locomotive 220 Schematic diagram showing the principle of 220 operation of Bodmer's design for a balanced engine with a piston rod passing through each end of the cylinder J.G. Bodmer's engine design using telescopic 224 piston rods J.G.