The history of the first locomotives in America. From original ...

FIRST DELIBERATIONS ON RAILROADS. 63
must be fastened down and one of them completely out of the
control of the engineer.
4. The engine and boiler must be supported upon springs and
rest on six -wheels, the height of the whole not exceeding fifteen
feet to the top of the chimney.
5. The engine with water must not weigh more than six tons,
but an engine of less weight would be preferred, although draw-
ing a proportionally less load behind it ; if of only four and one-
half tons, it might be put on four wheels.
6. A mercurial gauge must be affixed to the machine, showing
the steam-pressure about forty-five pounds to the square inch.
7 The engine must be delivered, complete and ready for trial,
at the Liverpool end of the railway, not later than October 1,
1829.
8. The price of the engine not to exceed £550.
The project and the conditions were thonglit to "be
preposterous. An eminent gentleman of Liverpool,
afterward inspector of steam-packets, said that " only a
parcel of charlatans would have issued such a set of
conditions ;
" that it had been " proved to be impossible
to make a locomotive-engine to go ten miles an hour
but, if it was ever done, he would undertake to eat a
stewed engine-wheel for his breakfast !
The Stephenson locomotive factory was still in
operation at Newcastle, but for a long time it did not
pay expenses. Mr. Stephenson now set about the con-
struction of his far-famed engine the Eocket, to contend
for the prize just offered by the Liverpool and Manches-
ter railroad directors. As the name of Mr. Stephen-
son's Eocket is familiar in the mind of every railroad
engineer and machinist of the present day, we will de-
scribe it, for the information of all who feel intesrested
in the subject: The boiler of this new engine was
cylindrical in form, with flat ends ; it was six feet in
length and three feet in diameter, the upper half of the
boiler used as a reservoir for the steam, the lower half
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