Brother Jonathan (locomotive)
| Brother Jonathan | |
|---|---|
 Brother Jonathan
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| Number: | 1 |
| Manufacturer: | West Point Foundry |
| Year of construction (s): | 1832 |
| Retirement: | unknown |
| Type : | 2'A n2 |
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| Length: | 5 m (only locomotive) |
| Service mass: | 6.4 t (only locomotive) |
| Wheel set mass : | 3.2 t |
| Top speed: | 60 mph (about 100 km / h) |
| Starting tractive effort: | 5 kN |
| Driving wheel diameter: | 60 ″ (1524 mm) |
| Impeller diameter front: | unknown |
| Number of cylinders: | 2 |
| Cylinder diameter: | 9½ ″ (241 mm) |
| Piston stroke: | 16 ″ (406 mm) |
| Boiler overpressure: | 3.5 kg / cm² = 3.4 bar |
Brother Jonathan was a steam locomotive built in the United States in 1832 . It was the first locomotive to be equipped with a leading bogie .
history
Operational requirements
In the early days of the railroad in the 19th century, most American railroad lines were built quickly and cheaply. New financial resources were mostly put into the expansion of the route network instead of into the maintenance and expansion of the existing routes, so that these were often in poor condition. Initially imported from the UK , the locomotives had a rigid frame in which their running gear was mounted. This construction method was unsuitable for operation on these routes with their bumps and tight curves, and derailments often occurred . Therefore, constructive improvements to the locomotives were sought in order to increase their running safety and the safety of railway operations.
Construction improvement
At a suggestion by Robert Stephenson , the American civil engineer John B. Jervis developed the idea in 1831 of placing a bogie under the front of the locomotive in order to improve its tracking. This construction was first used in the locomotive experiment of the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad (M & HRR), which was delivered in August 1832 . The locomotive was technically convincing, but it was a failure with regard to its steam boiler , which produced too little steam with wood as fuel, which was common in America at the time, because the one and a half meter long fire box was designed for the anthracite common in Great Britain . The locomotive was therefore fitted with a new firebox suitable for wood in the winter of 1833. Presumably after this conversion, the locomotive was renamed Brother Jonathan .
Surname
Brother Jonathan was a widespread term and symbolic figure for the residents of the newly founded United States after the American Revolutionary War , comparable to Uncle Sam . The naming should indicate that the locomotive no longer followed the English design principles with regard to the boiler as well as the drive and was successfully adapted to the American conditions.
business
The locomotive was so successful that the axle formula (4-2-0 / 2'A) was named Jervis . Brother Jonathan was the fastest locomotive of its time and is said to have reached 100 km / h. Between 1835 and 1842, therefore, almost exclusively locomotives with the axle formula 2'A were built in America, so that in 1840 almost two thirds of all locomotives had this axle formula. The pulling power of these locomotives with only one driven axle soon proved to be insufficient, so that in the 1840s, locomotives were converted to 2'B by adding a coupling axle. The Brother Jonathan was also converted into a 2'B locomotive in 1846 by the Scottish engineer Walter McQueen . The timing of the decommissioning or scrapping of the locomotive is unknown.
technology
The boiler and engine used in the original experiment were identical to Stephenson's Planet locomotive , while the drive mechanism was completely different. Instead of the planet's rigid axle arrangement , Jervis placed the drive axle behind the fire box and placed a two-axle bogie with an outer frame under the front of the locomotive. The kettle was relatively small and allowed the drive rods to be guided between the kettle and the main frame to the cranked drive axle.
The locomotive supported itself on the bogie frame by means of lateral rollers, so that rolling movements were reduced. The wheelbase, which is longer than the planet , reduces pitching movements . The managers on the first wheelset were halved compared to a two-axle arrangement, because the lateral forces at the front end of the locomotive were distributed over the two wheelsets of the bogie. In addition, the first axis of the bogie was adjusted almost radially due to the pivoting out, so that the approach angle was reduced.
When it was later converted to a 2'B locomotive, smaller drive wheels and larger cylinders were used. The new drive wheels had a diameter of 54 "(1372 mm), the cylinders now had a stroke of 18" (475 mm) and a diameter of 12 "(305 mm).
Individual evidence
- ^ Introduction of the Locomotive Safety Truck (= Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology . Paper 24). 2008, p. 117-131 ( e-book [accessed May 26, 2015]).
- ^ A b The Illustrated Directory of Trains of the World . MBI Publishing Company, 2000, ISBN 978-0-7603-0891-2 , pp. 18-19 ( Google Books [accessed May 26, 2015]). Google Books ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b c d A History of the American Locomotive: Its Development, 1830-1880 . Courier Corporation, 1979, ISBN 978-0-486-23818-0 , The 4-2-0, pp. 33-46 ( Google Books [accessed May 26, 2015]).
- ↑ TeachUShistory.org: Brother Jonathan Administering a Salutary Cordial to John Bull , accessed May 27, 2015
- ↑ Original artwork: John Swatsley: Brother Jonathan Locomotive. In: www.unicover.com. Retrieved May 26, 2015 .
