Zerah Colburn
At last a copy of Zerah Colburn's Locomotive engineering and the mechanism of railways (Ottley 2762) has been seen although it may be questioned whether the copy inspected at the British Library at St Pancras was seen by George Ottley as Ottley notes a location at the LSE. It was originally published by William Collins of Glasgow as a part-work and periodical publications in general appear to upset the otherwise orderly library activity at St Pancras (and elsewhere). This is a major danger to the future history of technology and should be addressed by those with the strength to address it. The copy inspected was leather-bound and had the original covers bound in at the back: it appeared to be a "British Museum" copy rather than one from the Patent Office Library (which had a copy: blpc indicates that this was so). Bibliographically, Colburn poses another problem in that he was an American and the book is only partly about British locomotive history (it also considers development elsewhere, notably in the United States and on Continental Europe), but for all those British xenophobes it was published in the second city of the British Empire: Glasgow; and has much to say about British locomotive development. It is wonderful to note that the great Mitchell Library in that City has a copy of this work (the copy is in slightly less pristine condition, but this further inspection has modified some of the earlier comments)..
It was beautifully printed on high quality (quarto) paper and has magnificent folding plates of locomotive drawings. Furthermore, there area great many line drawings and tables within the text. The book is so important that its presence in the town's library might be used to establish those places seeking city-status, or for football teams looking to be in the Premier League, or similar trite measures of greatness. Any true locomotive enthusiast compelled to stay on the proverbial Desert Island should select this as the book "other than the Bible and Shakespeare" (spare us the latter: too many libraries are cluttered with literary bilge).
Marshall states that Colburn was born in Saratoga Springs, New York State in 1833 and died in Belmont Mass. by shooting himself on 25 April 1870. Marshall incorrectly states that the monumental work was posthumus as publication started in 1864. Colburn began his publishing activity in the USA in 1851 and became Editor of The Engineer in London in 1858 before founding Engineering in 1866. Mike Chrimes has written the entry for Colburn ih his Biographical dictionary..
J.B. Snell (Railways: mechanical engineering) having dismissed D.K. Clark's works in a line recorded that "the magnum opus of mid-nineteenth-century technical literature on locomotives is Zerah Colburn's Locomotive Engineening and the Mechanism of Railways, completed in 1864 after Colburn's death by D.K. Clark. This is a very full and detailed accont of locomotive technology in the then state of the art; and Colburn, who was an American, had his feet on the ground in a practical Yankee way. For instance, at one place he makes the point that engineers were mistaken in spending such efforts in search of coal economy. If the whole cost of fuel were saved, it would mean only two-thirds per cent extra dividend to shareholders. Repairs cost more than fuel; mechanical improvement was therefore more important than thermal improvement , though despised by the 'dilettant'. Colburn's book became something of a standard work, and deserved to.
Locomotive engineering and the mechanism of railways
There is one major puzzle: it now seems to be agreed that Charles Markham solved the "coal combustion problem" with his and Matthew Kirtley's development of the brick arch in the firebox. There is no mention of this in this work (it is always difficult to be certain about absence), but on page 265 there is a table which compares the attempts made by McConnell, Beattie and Cudworth to burn coal (from a paper by D.K. Clark) and some of the tests described took place "as recently as" 1860. The relationship between D.K. Clark and Colburn requires investigation: certainly Clark completed some of Colburn's work for publication and as noted on the Clark page there is need for a study of Clark. It should be noted that Ahrons (The British steam locomotive) relied heavily upon Clark and Colburn's works.
Plates (only those directly relevant to British locomotive history are listed as there is a limit to note-taking by pencil): these plates are accorded the status of being selected from the Imperial Exhibition of 1862.
1 2-2-2 Lady of the Lake (LNWR: Ramsbottom); 2 sectionalized; 3 2-2-2 D. Luiz (Beyer Peacock for Spain); 4 sectionalized; 5 Sharp Stewart 0-6-0 for Egypt 6 Sharp Stewart locomotive for Ghaut Incline in India; 7 2-2-2 (CR: Benjamin Connor/Neilson); 8 sectionalized; 9 2-2-2 (Sinclair GER); 10 sectionalized; 11 2-4-0 No. 118 (SER: Cudworth); 12 0-6-0 outside-cylinder (Neilson) for Spanish Railway? 13 sectionalized; 15 0-6-0 (LNWR: Ramsbottom); 16 2-4-0 No. 71 Clyde (LSWR: Beattie); 17 details of previous; 22 0-4-0T (Fletcher Jennings patent mineral tank engine); 23 2-4-0T (St Helens Rly: James Cross with W.B. Adams radial boxes); 24 2-4-0 (Sharp for export); 25 Sturrock steam tender; 26 4-4-0 Saltburn (S&DR supplied Robert Stephenson); 27 sectionalized; 28 tender & boiler Cudworth coal burning locomotive; 29 0-4-2 (Beyer Peacock for Smyrna & Cassaba Railway); 30-2 sectionalized of previous; 34-5 0-4-2 (GS&WR: John Wakefield); 36 4-4-0T (Beyer Peacock for Metropolitan Railway credited to John Fowler); 37-8 4-4-0T No. 1 (NLR W. Adams); 41-2 4-4-0 "goods locomotive" GNoSR: Cowan); 43-5 0-6-0T Marquis (Manning Wardle); 47 0-4-4T double bogie Fairlie (GS&WR: A.A. McDonnell); also rolling stock: Plate 55 included a round-end wagon for GER presumably for conveyance of swedes; Plate 57 engine turntable. All of the previous have Roman numbers in the original document, but there was also a separate series of plates with Arabic numerals which explains valve motion by J.F. Gray.
The Chapters are in the main built around the Plates. The exceptions are the first Chapters which provide a history of "locomotives" from Cuneot onwards and then describe the function of the various components of the locomotive rather in the manner of D.K. Clark. Many of the later Chapters examine specific aspects of locomotive development:
Chapter 11: Alexander Allan's straight link motion [and Trick's similar
gear developed in Germany]
Chapter 12 Heusinger or Walschaerts valve gear (order given as stated)
Chapter 13 Combustion
Chapter 15 Theorry of blast
Chapter 18 Expansive motion as studied on Great Britain
Chapter 19 Steam condensation in cylinders
Chapter 21 Balancing
Chapter 24 Exampled of coupled passenger locomotive engines: linked, for
instance, to Plate 11
Chapter 25 Examples of goods locomotive engines: linked to Plates 15, 34
and 41
Chapter 26 Examples of steep-gradient tank engines: linked mainly to locomotives
overseas or to work overseas, notably the John Kershaw design for service
on the GIP, and also the Adams/Cross design for the St Helens Railway (Plate
23)
Steam boiler explosions. London: John Weale,
1860.
Originally published in Engineer between 16 September 1859 and 4 November
1859. Cited boiler explosion at Sharp Stewart in Manchester in 1858 which
exploded at a pressure of 117 psi. Most of the explosions discussed occurred
in the USA. Another British locomotive boiler explosion took place in October
1856 at Messrs. Bolckow & Vaughan at Middlesbrough. Cites Joule's work
on fireboxes. Seen National Library of Scotland.
Professional papers
Colburn, Z. American locomotives and rolling stock.
Min. Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs, 1869,
28, 69-75 . Disc.: 385-439.
Swing beam used exclusively under all American passenger carriages,
and for the last eight or nine years more or less extensively adopted directly
for engine bogies. Instead of the weight being taken upon the bogie frame,
it rests upon a series of springs, steel or rubber, placed upon a transverse
beam which is suspended by links from the cross timbers of the bogie
frame-passenger carriage bogies being always made with timber frames. The
transverse beam is thus free to swing endvise, or across the line. Discussion
contributions from W. Bridges Adams, G. Berkley, W.B. Lewis, R.P. Brereton,
W.A. Adams, P.R. Hodge, W. Atkinson, E.A. Cowper, W. Pole, Sir C. Fox , W.
Lloyd, and G.K. Radford.
2008-04-30