We have already discussed and considered "The Flying Steam Locomotive", but it turns out that the history of steam locomotive construction is full of interesting stories.
What did the inventors of the late XIX - early XX century not invent in search of new designs and ways to optimize old ones? Sometimes, looking at photographs of historical steam locomotives, you remember the movie "Back to the Future" and even wonder that the miracle depicted is not a time machine, but just a steam locomotive. In general, once the American engineer Holman thought that putting a steam locomotive directly on the rails was very simple. And he complicated the task.
And then, in 1887, something monstrous appeared on the New Jersey Railroad, causing a storm of emotions among observers and no less ridicule among engineers and mechanics. Let's take a look at this miracle of technology and see why it was invented …
The end of the 19th century was a period of rapid development of railway transport. In the United States, kilometers (more precisely, miles) of railways were laid every day, the network covered the wild western lands, new locomotives and wagons were required. The number of steam locomotive companies grew by leaps and bounds, and many of them built one or two steam locomotives in their history and went bankrupt. Each new technical novelty aroused delight and confidence among the public that this was the steam locomotive of the future.
One of the most notorious technical frauds of the 19th century was the Holman steam locomotive. The amazing machine, nicknamed Absurdity, was developed in the mid-1880s by William Jennings Holman, a British engineer and owner of a small steam locomotive company.
In 1887, something completely extraordinary appeared on the New Jersey Railroad. The new steam locomotive of Holman Locomotive caused bewilderment among engineers and mechanics, and a simple people a lot of emotions and blind faith in progress. In appearance, the curiosity resembled an ordinary steam locomotive of the "American" type (2-2-0 according to the Soviet classification, or 4-4-0 according to the American), but its wheels did not touch the rails at all …
Promotional video:
Actually, it was the usual 4-4-0, simply modernized by the Holman enterprise. The wheels of the amazing machine were not on the rails, but on additional carts; through a friction transmission, they transmitted a torque to the driven wheels of the bogies, which, in turn, were already in contact with the rails. The track width remained the usual - 1435 mm.
There was no gain neither in speed, nor in coal consumption, nor in power - the steam locomotive only became monstrously complicated, looked strange (in front - two floors of wheels, behind - as many as three floors!), And losses due to additional friction worsened the running characteristics of the machine …
Only William Jennings Holman, the owner of Holman Locomotive Company, could logically explain the reason for the creation of the freak. Much later, in 1895, Holman even patented his "invention" (US 546153); he had problems only with the justification of the usefulness of the design, because technically Holman's steam locomotive was certainly an innovative idea.
So, what was Holman's engine behind? As already mentioned, the competition in the railway industry was fierce in those years. And the tiny company Holman was doing very badly. Instead of chasing progress and trying to outdo the rest, Mr. Holman made another, rather risky decision. He bought an old steam locomotive of type 4-4-0 (we will use the American classification), put friction rims on the wheels, put the resulting beauty on carts, adjusted everything - and started the locomotive along a branch of the New Jersey road. Of course, the curiosity attracted attention.
Holman advertised his steam train as best he could. He gave numerous presentations, bought entire newspaper pages, and half the country was covered with posters. To onlookers, Holman explained (using statements that are completely absurd from the point of view of physics) that this design will lead to a threefold increase in speed for the same power of the steam plant, and a greater number of points of contact with the rails will avoid wheel slip, and this will also work to increase the speed and decrease waste of power. Finally, the culmination of the advertising campaign was a proposal to quickly and easily "upgrade" any existing steam locomotive, turning it into a holman-type. Of course, only Holman Locomotive Company provided such a service.
At the same time, he simply multiplied the initial number of axles (2) by the final (3) for the leading cart, that's all the mathematics. A greater number of points in contact with the rails, Holman argued, would negate slippage, and the efficiency of the locomotive would increase significantly. Posters for the Holman Locomotive Company hung throughout New Jersey, and ten million in shares worth between $ 25 and $ 100 were printed - although historians believe the amount is overstated. Holman's confidence in the success of the enterprise was also due to the fact that his company was ready to "modernize" any existing steam locomotive, that is, the "Holmans" did not need to be built from scratch.
Holman's share of the second issue (numbered, signed personally by Holman).
And most importantly: Holman issued shares in the amount of $ 25 to 100 - for a total of $ 10 million (at least so it was stated). Pay attention - the end of the 19th century, you can live on a couple of dollars for a week. And while engineers and railroad workers trumpeted the fraud, Holman sold almost all of the shares - they were bought by ordinary people who did not understand anything about physics and mechanics, but easily led to advertising. Angus Sinclair in his book "Development of the Locomotive" writes that one of his acquaintances named Marion French invested in Holman shares with difficulty accumulated $ 570 and the next 20 years waited for her to start paying dividends.
Ordinary people bought it. Many of the not-so-wealthy Jersey have invested their last money in Holman stock to await the promised dividends for twenty years. There were also large investors who acquired significant blocks of shares.
But at the same time, the engineering world sounded the alarm. It began with the fact that a number of newspapers, which published an advertisement for the project, turned to technical specialists, and they were horrified by what they saw. Revelations rained down, Holman was declared a technical dropout who did not understand the elementary laws of physics.
Only a year later, when Holman disappeared with all the money, leaving his unique steam locomotive as a legacy to the New Jersey Railroad, it became clear that he was a genius. He invented and constructed the simplest device, with its seeming complexity capable of deceiving the masses and attracting large-scale investments. Technical demonstrations were carried out at low speeds, and the actual figures for coal consumption were not indicated anywhere - Holman outwitted everyone.
The long-suffering steam locomotive was rebuilt back to 4-4-0 and continued to serve as a regular transport. The locomotive became known as the Holman Absurd.
But in 1894, Holman suddenly returned (apparently, the money ran out) and ordered the Baldwin Locomotive Works for as many as three locomotives of his system, paying only one in advance. The system was slightly different. The idler wheels were directly on the rails, and only two driving axles rested on the carts. And the bogies were of a slightly different design and engagement pattern; Holman also received a patent for it - in 1898 (US 597557). As a result, only one Baldwin of Holman's system emerged outside the factory gates three years later, in 1897.
But even on it, Holman managed to make good money, again issuing a series of shares of the newly formed The Holman Locomotive and Speeding Truck Co and selling them with a whistle. After Holman's next disappearance, the ill-fated steam locomotive was converted into a regular 4-4-0 and sent to redeem its shameful past in Kansas.
No one really knows anything about Holman himself - the first patent behind his name appeared in 1856, the last - in 1926, in total Holman received seven patents for improvements to the railway, including for his crazy carts. Different patents indicate different places of residence, and when comparing the dates, it turns out that Holman lived at least ninety years, since the difference between the first and the last patents is seventy. After the disappearance of the fraudster, many newspapers and magazines printed cartoons on his designs, sometimes "layering" up to eight floors of wheels. And Holman somewhere lived out his life in satiety, since the money received from two successive scams would have lasted for an ordinary person for fifty years. Holman seemed to have had enough, since he did not go for the third scam.
But in the history of technology, Holman will remain as the inventor of the world's most absurd steam locomotive. And, perhaps, as a person who very cleverly deceived everyone. And twice.
Locomotive Laferrera
Holman was not the first to pioneer the idea of placing one wheel on top of the other. Back in 1850, the French company Entreprise Geneve Laferrère made a single copy of an equally original design.
The problem was that in the middle of the 19th century there was no standard for a uniform gauge. In general, even today, in different countries of the world, the railway track can have a different width - from 610 to 2000 mm (not counting children's railways). And the Great Western Railway in Great Britain for a long time (until 1892) had a width of 2140 mm. The Laferrère design was one of the attempts to make the transition from one track gauge to another.
The top of the locomotive was a conventional 0-6-0 type locomotive for a 1000 mm track track. If there was a need to run a steam locomotive on a track of 1435 mm, then the carts simply changed places: the upper one went down, and the lower one went up. Moreover, the device made it possible to change the track without stopping the steam engine! I must say that from the point of view of mechanics, Laferrer's design is brilliant, especially for the middle of the 19th century. Another question is that, in fact, no one needed it and the development stopped there.
The Laferrera steam locomotive is shrouded in mystery from all sides. There are no patents for this design, a single image of the system has survived to this day, and even the name of the manufacturer was read from a plaque clearly visible in the picture. The combination "engineer Laferrer" was found in the same Scientific American article from 1888, for which the locomotive was redrawn from some French edition (most likely Genie Civil).
Fontaine Steam Engine
Finally, it is worth mentioning another amazing design, known today as Fontaine's Freak.
In 1881, Grant Locomotive Works (Paterson, NJ) built a unique locomotive for the Canadian Railroad, designed by Detroit engineer Eugene Fontaine. This locomotive made a lot of noise and for several more years attracted the attention of both mechanical engineers and the idle public.
The drive wheel of the Fontaine locomotive was located at the level of the boiler and, by means of a friction transmission, rotated a wheel that directly moved along the rails. Fontaine himself argued that this development would significantly increase the speed of the locomotive. “Today we have a situation where an increase in speed is only available through an increase in the amount of fuel supplied, which leads to additional costs,” wrote Fontaine. “My design will make it possible to destroy the illusion of the impossibility of moving along a different path …” He made his conclusion based on the fact that the rotation of a large-diameter drive wheel (72 inches), and not subject to the pressure of the mass of the locomotive, requires less energy than the conventional scheme. The lower friction wheel (driven), located on the same axis as the contact with the rails, had a smaller diameter, 56 inches,which also reduced costs and allowed greater speed. Finally, Fontaine's system improved traffic safety. The railways of the United States were, we will admit, rather clumsy (especially in the west), and quite often the trains went off the rails simply because of the poor quality of laying. Fontaine spaced the drive system and drive wheels, which severely reduced the feedback of the road curve on the drive arms, increasing the reliability and durability of the structure.increasing the reliability and durability of the structure.increasing the reliability and durability of the structure.
Unfortunately, Fontaine was somewhat mistaken, which was proven over several years of operation of the steam locomotive on the Canada Southern Railway for which it was created. Unlike Holman, who was most likely inspired by the idea of a Detroit engineer, Fontaine sincerely hoped to improve the engine. His system turned out to be no better and no worse than the usual one and therefore was economically inexpedient due to technological complexity. Subsequently, the unique steam locomotive was rebuilt into an ordinary workhorse of the 4-2-2 type.
However, according to the Fontaine system, at first, in 1882, two more steam locomotives were manufactured: the first for the Pennsylvania Railroad, the second for the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad. All such locomotives were actively exploited.
To summarize, we can say that human imagination is limitless. And no matter how absurd this or that structure may seem at first glance, it is worth creating it at least so that progress does not stop for a second.
Nathaniel Grue's ice locomotive
The border between a steam locomotive and a steam tractor is very thin: the first goes on rails and the second on any surface. It seems, put a locomotive on tires or tracks, and it will cease to be a representative of rail transport. And in 1861, the Englishman Nathaniel Grue designed and built with the participation of Messrs. Neilson & Co. locomotive … on skids! Gru had been to Russia shortly before, where he was shocked by the amount of snow and difficult road conditions. The locomotives were openly skidding on the snow-covered rails. And Gru came up with a steam locomotive specially designed for Russia.
Gru's wonderful (and naive) invention was 15 feet long and weighed about 12 tons, and had to move on rear wheels with short steel spikes for better traction. But in front, instead of wheels, a sled was installed, which, according to Gru's idea, could perfectly slide along a snow-covered road, thereby clearing the way for the driving wheels. Already upon delivery to Moscow, the locomotive was equipped with a closed cabin with heating supplied from a steam boiler.
Oddly enough, Russia accepted the project, and the Gru steam locomotive was purchased by the merchant Solodornikov, whom he regularly served throughout the winter of 1861/62 - though not on the railroad, but on river ice, transporting cargo and passengers. Further, the trail of the locomotive is lost in history, although, according to some reports, the very next winter it fell through the ice and remained there forever.