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

86 LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. [chap. vni.
without noise.* This arrangement was devised expressly for
the purpose of previenting any blast in the chimney, the value
of which was not detected until George Stephenson, adopting it
with a preconceived design and purpose, demonstrated its im-
portance and value,—as being, in fact, the very life-breath of the
locomotive engine.
* A drawing of the Wylam engiie is given in the first edition of Nicholas
Wood's Treatise on Raih-oads, 1825. The engine was placed on eight wheels,
having seven racls-wheels working inside them, distributing the motion; while
a barrel fixed behind the engine on two other wheels contained the water:—an
exceedingly clumsy, uncouth-looking machine.