The life of George Stephenson, railway engineer - Lighthouse ...

98 LIFE OF GEOEGE STEPHENSON. [ohap. ix.
of others, and never neglecting to avail himself of their sugges-
tions,—had succeeded in manufacturing an engine which included
the following important improvements on all previous attempts in
the same direction :—viz : simple and direct communication be-
tween the cylinder and the wheels rolling upon the rails ; joint
adhesion of all the wheels, attained by the use of horizontal con-
necting rods ; and finally, a beautiful method of exciting the
combustion of the fuel by employing the waste steam, which had
formerly been allowed uselessly to escape into the air. Although
many improvements in detail were afterwards introduced in the
locomotive by Mr. Stephenson himself, as well as by his equally
distinguished son, it is perhaps not too much to say that this
engine, as a mechanical contrivance, contained the germ of all
that has since been eflfected. It may, in fact, be regarded as the
type of the present locomotive engine.