Samuel Morey, or: 1824, with a two-stroke engine.

MacCaulay

Banned
DuQuense: I'm liking it! And you even did the photoshop on it...I'm touched.

LaSalle: I'll have my photoshopped picture up in a couple of days, once I've got it how I like it.
So...the new CSS Pioneer (I'm using the name of the first submarine that the Hunley designers built) would be pumped up with air before leaving on it's machine, then topped off with it's fuel, then sent out on it's mission? That's how I'm understanding this. Give me a few hours, and I'll get you some very loose design specs for the submarine.

I'm glad you're liking the airborne idea. It's one of those ideas that's been there since day one of trying to write this thing. So what I'm thinking, then, is that the Rough Riders (I'm thinking...140 of them, though that might be to large) load up their gear in Miami, wait for the order to go, then drop onto the bunkhouses at the top of Kettle Hill. Hell, we could even go totally overboard and actually have them take San Juan Hill! I mean...anything's possible.

I guess that's where I start wondering when the first carrier vs. carrier actions would be. I want to say that with the altered technology, Japan might decide to side with the Central Powers in World War I, leading to a carrier war in the Pacific in 1914. Or, for all intents and purposes, the Germans could have their lone carrier, the Scharnhorst, on the other end of the world at Tsingtao, and have to fight their way across the Pacific to get back home, finally culminating in a carrier battle between the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine in the Battle of the Falklands.

Thoughts?
 

MacCaulay

Banned
Well...here's the loose operating specs for the CSS Pioneer, the first submarine to operate in combat:

Built: Charleston Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina

Displacement: 95 tons
Length: 58 ft.
Beam: 9 ft.
Draft: 7 ft.

Maximum speed: 7 knots on surface, 5 knots submerged
Complement: 2 officers, 6 sailors
Armament: Undetermined

The CSS Pioneer was originally the USS Morey, and was being built by the US Navy until it was taken over by the Confederates at the beginning of the Civil War. It was subsequently finished in an slower fashion by the Confederate Navy, who finally launched it in 1863 to attack the US blockade. It managed to sink three vessels before finally being sunk itself by depth charges launched by the USS Young in early 1864.

Thoughts?
 

MacCaulay

Banned
Something else to think about...It's 1846, and the US Army has been living with certain small internal combustion engines for about a decade, now. How would they be employed?
 

MacCaulay

Banned
Thought I'd bump this for the sake of those who may want to poke and prod about the new design for the Pioneer.

I'm still working on Mexican War usages for primitive tractors and what-not, probably for siege gun transport and command vehicles.
 
For my TL, where the US expands to the Pacific far earlier, I've considered that a few 'off-rail' train-like vehicles (much smaller in terms of no of cars, basically big trailer trucks) are made to go where the railroads haven't caught up yet.

No idea if it would work, but I figure LaSalle or someone else can figure it out.
 
IIRC in the mid 1800's they were experimenting with Air pressure engines, Problem was Human power can't pump it up enuff pressure. Hook your ICE to the air pump, and Bingo- Air powered Subs.

And if you are filling large tanks full of air, to take under water--? How about a small one.? Develop a constant pressure valve, and you have 1870's Suba gear
 
IIRC in the mid 1800's they were experimenting with Air pressure engines, Problem was Human power can't pump it up enuff pressure. Hook your ICE to the air pump, and Bingo- Air powered Subs.

And if you are filling large tanks full of air, to take under water--? How about a small one.? Develop a constant pressure valve, and you have 1870's Suba gear

The big problem with compressed air motors (tried briefly for street railway applications) is the size of the reservoir and the pressure required to accomplish anything--and the thermodynamics of work derived from gases.

With any fluid, the work derived comes from the change in enthalpy from the state at which it enters the engine to that at which it exits the engine. In other words, it's a function of how much energy per pound it gives up between entry and exit. With a permanent gas like air, it's pretty much a function of the change in pressure. But with steam, you get both the change in pressure AND the change of state (i.e., condensation)--which is one hell of a lot more bang for the buck, and which is why steam engines are practical but air motors really aren't.

For a short hop--a tactical Civil War-era sub--an air motor might work but there will always be that telltale plume of bubbles. Storage battery technology was very primitive, so I don't think an electric motor would work. I hate to say this but it would likely be hand-cranked for stealth. On the other hand, a small stationary IC engine could easily drive a compressor to fill air tanks that would bleed off slowly and provide fresh air--assuming there's a surface snorkel to vent off carbon dioxide.

Blochead, you're pretty much talking about a first cousin of 19th century road engines, often used on farms and for construction, so what you propose is not farfetched at all: they'd look like steam-powered tractors with a hitch on the rear to pull maybe a wagon or two, like a latter day 18-wheeler (but a lot slower, clumsier, and noisier). (Mac, take note: a road engine could do exactly what you're talking about for an 1840s predecessor of Krupp's massive siege guns of 1914.)

Mac, about Mexican War applications for small IC engines: maybe as stationary power for machine shops for ordnance and artillery, or generating power for battlefield telegraph systems. Could be they could drive air compressors for the Corps of Engineers for siege work/redoubt construction also.
 

MacCaulay

Banned
So...Corps of Engineers. They could be deployed first to Vera Cruz to provide more extensive repair facilities closer to the battlefield, then when the tractor-types are offloaded from the ships, they move in with the second wave to provide roads and logistics for the US Army. They arrive at the battle of Chapultepec, where a young Captain Robert E. Lee supervises the transport and placement of massive siege guns that level the Mexican Military Academy.

I'm also trying to develop an idea for British mobile armoured forces fighting against the Zulu in the 1870s, possibly an inexorable mid-speed march into the interior through the savannah. I'm picturing vehicles distantly related to the Panzer Mk Is of the Wehrmacht in Spain in the 1930s. Thoughts?
 
I think in 1870 Africa you would probally have some thing like a Lightly armored Horseless Wagon with Early machine Guns. Think a early personal carrier.
 
What I'm looking at here is a conflict with...1920s-era technology. The Lincoln would be the equivalent of the USS Langley OTL.
She'd be called Morey, not Lincoln, to begin with.:eek: And if Japan's beaten Russia, she's got oil in Sakhalin & ESiberia, so oil's less an issue. If you accept other sources, she can get palm, nut, or other oil from CAm/SAm, & tell the U.S. to go screw; it was reliance on petroleum OTL that gave the U.S./Br/Du embargo its teeth.

That aside, Japan would face similar problems to OTL: the threat of interdiction of supplies by USN submarines:eek: (which also use IC engines, don't forget...).
July 1st-4th, 1863- Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, with urging from Sherman, launches his final assault to capture the trenchlines defending Vicksburg. Included in the assault are twenty 'Trenchers', large armoured vehicles with a breechloading cannon fore and aft.
Bit early for breechloaders... And why 2? If it's used for assault, 1 is enough. (Think of OTL Red Army assault guns.) I'd also wonder why ACS didn't have something like them, why there were no armored car duels (ACW =Kursk at, say, Brandy Station?), & why ACS trenches weren't too wide to be crossed by these monsters....

I had a thought, too, about tactical deployment. Given lo reliability & short range, it might be they have to operate close to railhead/rail spur, from special trains that carry their support teams, tools, & supplies. (It's an idea the Germans OTL used for aviation units, which is one reason they had such amazing tactical flexibility & responsiveness, despite being outnumbered.) And U.S.Army was very good at using railways.

Some corrections:
I guess I got carried away with calling the combined armoured units 'corps'. I'm assuming that they would be counted as a seperate unit, like artillery and infantry, so you would divide them differently.

And if the manpower that made up an armoured company was so different from an infantry or artillery company, the designations might get garbled on the way as well.
Force breakdowns (tentative):
Troop: 2 Trenchers and their accompanying logistical needs.
2 Troops equal...
Company: 4 Trenchers, 200 men, horses and wagons.
4 Armoured Companies equal...
Regiment: 16 Trenchers, 1200 men, horses and wagons. Mobile shops are controlled from battalion level.
4 Armoured Regiments equal...
Brigade: 64 Trenchers, 4500 men, horses and wagons. Larger, semi-permanent repair shops are controlled from this level.
I think your TOE may have a weakness: command/control. How are they being co-ordinated in the field? Semaphore? Heliograph? That seems to demand a 5h vehicle at 2-troop level (as Red Army tank units OTL), so your company would be 5 trenchers & 250 men, regiment 20 & 1500, & brigade 80 & about 5600. (I'd also wonder just how many horses this formation needs... I'd bet the numbers are pretty substantial. That would call for fairly enormous amounts of fodder, which also suggests keeping them close to supply rail lines.)
Another thought: how about the Union using crude incendiary weapons? I'm thinking a mortar that could lob a hollow iron ball filled partially with about 98% sulfuric acid, a/k/a oil of vitriol. Upon impact, drops of acid spray in all directions--and the heat released when absorbing water out of wood, cloth, etc., (technically known as the heat of solution with respect to the acid) is enough to ignite that same substance. (I don't believe white phosphorus could be had in sufficiently large quantities in the US at the time.)
I'd say that's a pretty good idea for a Confederate anti-trencher weapon.:D Especially if coupled with a variety of direct-fire rocket; making field guns is harder, CSA industry was strapped as it was OTL, & mortars were too damn inaccurate & too sophisticated for the era metallurgy (believe it, or not).
Next: armored cars for scouting? No. Why not? For effective scouting, you need stealth and speed. The latter you might get if the roads are in half-decent shape (a bit of a crapshoot); the former, not a snowball's chance in hell. The hiss of steam and the clank of the monkey motion would give away a position in no time flat. And not a chance you could silence a 19th century steam engine (and practical steam turbines--a lot quieter--were still over the horizon). But as command vehicles? Now you got something: picture Grant or Sherman directing a battle, able to move from one point to another. Might result in, say, Cold Harbor becoming a Union victory.
You're wrong there, I'm afraid. WW1/2, armored cars were routinely used for scouting. They didn't need to stay hidden, just keep the enemy from moving in secret. Think of Gettysburg: a screen of armored cars meeting, exchanging fire, falling back to report, "We've met the enemy, General." I picture something like a WW1 Rolls armored car with a 9-barrel (3x3 [1 row firing while loaders refill the other 2]) .58 (same cal as the OTL AUS-issue Springfield infantry rifle) organ gun, just enough to scare off infantry with short-range anti-armor pyrockets (the new 4"-warhead model [think Panzerfaust] will kill a trencher at 100yd, & the old 2" ones [think Bazooka] can kill an armored car at over 60...:eek: Thank the Lord they haven't got many of those gas rockets; wearing a filter mask all the time gives me migranes.:D)

Using 'em as command vehicles makes sense, too, especially for cav commanders who need to keep up with fluid action. I can even picture Stuart getting captured,:eek::eek: like O'Connor did.:eek::eek:

And, thinking of submarines, CSN had 'em. Couldn't they break the blockade? Or, conversely, couldn't USN cruisers interdict CSN supply convoys...? Either way, IMO, you'd see airship ocean patrols...
after the development of rudimentary refining of crude oil (which was shipped in barrels in wagons and on rail cars), it still took about 30 years for gasoline to be recognized as a usable fuel rather than a nuisance byproduct.
IMO, you've overlooked the fact OTL there was small, or no, demand for liquid fuels, either. Certainly nothing like an auto industry or military which needed supplies of easy-to-use, easy-to-deliver liquid fuel. TTL, given the engine exists, IMO there'd be widespread trials with a variety of fuels. Don't forget, OTL there were even early experiments with gunpowder as fuel.:eek: (I am not making that up, & no, I didn't see it here.:p) As I noted in the Pistonpunk thread, IMO you'd get nut, palm, & other oils from a variety of places, & research into methanol would be followed by industrial methods. Where demand exists, solutions are found...

Also, let me suggest 2 other things: dirigibles, which can readily use heavier engines, & simpler engines. If the idea of IC is around (even gunpowder engines:eek:), what about somebody getting a brainwave & inventing a pulsejet? OK, it vibrates like a gigantic jackhammer,:eek: but isolating it by spring-mounting it couldn't be too big a jump...
First, airships would probably be impossible as well. The problem would be the lifting gas; I don't think that it was possible to isolate sufficient quantities of helium in the early-to-mid 1800s, and I suspect that hydrogen-related disasters would lead to a sudden halt in airship development.
I would disagree. A lot of our modern OTL reaction to hydrogen in airships is a product of a) radio & b) film from the Hindenberg accident. Before that, there were lots of aircraft & airliner wrecks, & before that, hundreds of liner shipwrecks (of which Titanic is only the best known, by no means the only). People didn't say, "Stop with the flying!" or "Stop with the ocean liners!" Nor, IMO, would they TTL, absent radio & film.
Second, would this engine have applications in the construction industry as well as for the factories? If it could produce sufficient power for winches, cranes, elevators, and other such stationary paraphenalia, the nature of urban development might be changed.
Absolutely right: cranes, elevators, fire trucks (did somebody say Atlanta? Chicago? San Francisco? Toronto? Damn near every major city in NAm in the 19hC at one time or another?:eek: Yep...:eek:), buses... Could be buses mean subways & trolleys never develop. L.A.'d have gridlock a century sooner,:eek::p Manhattan would have probably 3 cross-town freeways (planned OTL but never completed), & suburbs would spring up everywhere...
The manufacturing capability to build many engines simply isn't there. Fordism isn't going to be invented for another century, and without mass production techniques, these engines are going to be massively expensive, thanks to the complicated machining required.
IMO, the capability would be developed if a market was perceived. OTL 1850, the U.S. alone built upwards of 1 million wagons (IIRC; it could've been over 3M), & around 1850 (IIRC), about 100K bicycles/yr. All it takes is some sharp businessman to think a powered wagon can take a piece of that. When they started, HBC & VOC had only a doz or couple of doz investors. Ford only had 3-4 backers, some OTL carmakers had only one (like a department store), & a lot of early OTL carmakers were capitalized at startlingly lo$ (to my modern eyes, anyhow:eek:). Also, don't forget, this was an age when newness was in vogue, & when machines, like the cotton gin (for instance) were showing new ways of doing things. A willingness to try an apparently crazy scheme might be higher than you'd think.

I'll agree with your rough timeline of development, tho: ships, rail (more efficient, rather than more powerful, IMO, OTL's diesel advantage; might see streamliners, to take advantage of compactness, like OTL), & farm equipment (tractors, reapers, SP combines, & such).
On a darker note, suppose Morey and/or heirs can't get capital on this side of the Atlantic...
I think it's probable he would. The U.S. has historically been short of labor & subsituted machinery; this would be one more way of doing it. (How many horse teams can one IC wagon replace? And how much faster is a transatlantic crossing on IC than sail?)
Thought I'd bump this one. Does anyone have a problem with 1883 as the first flight date? I'm also wondering about...

...April 17, 1935. Thank god for the British, and the brave astronauts of the RAF...the Royal Aeronautical Force. Someone needs to go into space, right?
IMO, 1883 is way late for LTA. And 1935 maybe too early for space; materials tech has to be mightily advanced to withstand the heat at Mach 25...:eek: not to mention re-entry.:eek::eek:
I'm having a bit of trouble swallowing manned space flight by the '30s, though. That's an entirely different line of research/endeavor that had nothing to do with conventional internal combustion power. By then, Goddard was doing some key research, as were the Germans, but I don't see much changing here. To make manned space flight practical, you require high energy liquid fuels and oxidants-e.g., liquid oxygen-and liquefying atmospheric gases was still very rudimentary until the late '40s/early '50s, mostly due to still-developing refrigeration technology and understanding of thermodynamics.
Would you reject kerosene/alcohol & nitric acid, assuming something in the vein of the X-1/X-15? Launch from under a high-flying dirigible, boom & zoom, hit 100km, deadstick back? (Can I nominate William G. Barker as 1st man in space?:p)
I keep coming back to chemical weapons of a different sort, though. Hand grenades weren't really used until World War I--but could the glass industry (largely a northern endeavor, much of which was located in southern New Jersey) provide frangible glass bottles that could contain, say, acid--or ammonia water and a solution of sodium hypochlorite (a/k/a Clorox), which could yield up chlorine gas (shades of Ypres, 1915)?
I like that a lot.:cool::cool: Your idea of an internal "smokescreen", too.:cool:
When the Confederate machine passes over this device, the underside of the boiler and firebox will radiate ungodly amounts of heat
Hang on! It's not steam-powered!:confused: It's an IC engine! (Good thinking on developing land mines, tho.:cool:)
At the same time American paratroops will drop on Cuba to aid the rebels. So...it's 1898. What kind of aircraft would the American AAS (American Air Service) be using?
I can picture your troop carrier looking a bit like this & fighters like this. (If that looks too advanced, recall the Wright brothers used the bipe arrangement because they needed stiffness & because they hadn't conceived ailerons; TTL, I can imagine somebody would (as Bleriot did; WP claims "English inventor M.P.W. Bolton patented the first aileron-type device for lateral control" in 1868).
(see what happens when an engineer gets involved here? He knows too damn much technological history for his own good. :D )
Curses! Foiled again!:D Go away!:D:D
 
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MacCaulay

Banned
I thought I'd bump this because of it's coolness. I don't think the whole idea of "tanks in the Civil War" ever got fleshed out with so much detail.
 
How's travelling in a motorised vehicle without pneumatic tyres going to feel?

Especially on the dirt track roads that would have been all that was available in most of the World at the time
 
How's travelling in a motorised vehicle without pneumatic tyres going to feel?

Especially on the dirt track roads that would have been all that was available in most of the World at the time

Like this:

"On the 31st of October, l832, the "Infant" took a trip to Brighton, the following account of which is quoted from Mr. Alexander Gordon's "Journal of Elemental Locomotion:"--


"JOURNEY TO BRIGHTON BY MR. WALTER HANCOCK'S STEAM-CARRIAGE.


"Mr. Hancock having intimated to us that he proposed trying his steam-carriage, modestly yclept 'The Infant,' on the turnpike road to Brighton :--despite of the article in the 'Foreign Quarterly,' the best upon locomotion which has yet appeared in any periodical-despite of the Re-viewer's opinion, that Mr. Hancock's carriage 'does not seem adapted for rapid motion,' we ventured to accept the invitation, with the certain conviction, that we should ultimately reach Brighton, and return, unscathed by the scaldings, to give an unbiassed and satisfactory account of our trip. Ecce signum!

"The 'Foreign Quarterly,' we find, is foreign in this instance. Therein, it is said, 'imperfect suspension has been the ruin of every machine that has yet been constructed.' This 'Infant' has been growing for many months, and improving apace,--a promising child of art. Not only has the 'Infant' not been ruined by 'imperfect suspension,' but it is so admirably and completely hung on steel springs,' as the coach advertisements used to announce 'sixty years since,' that the master-hand of Houlditch, in Long Acre, or Windus, in the City, could not have shielded us from concussions more delightfully; and not only were so luxuriously and tenderly treated, but the engine itself was equally saved from the roughness of the passage.


"The crank-shaft, upon which the engines work at right angles, communicates its motion by two chains to the straight hinder axle; thus causing one or both wheels to revolve, and the carriage to be propelled by the adhesion of the periphery to the road. Any shock, which effects the carriage, can only be felt by the steam-engine, through the chain or through the very flexible springs upon which the body of the vehicle, containing engines and passengers, is placed.


"From the extreme ends of the hinder axletree to the corresponding ends of the crank-shaft, strong bars proceed. These bars serve to keep the crank-shaft always equidistant from the hinder axletree; so that any concussion, which may affect either the wheels or the body, cannot force the crank-shaft nearer or farther from the axletree. These rods are constantly vibrating; but the steam-engine is securely and perfectly suspended. We do not say, that the whole affair will not be susceptible of great improvement; nor, we apprehend, does Mr. Hancock. Its name, the 'Infant,' implies beauty and efficiency of structure; but does not pretend to robust and active maturity.


"Well do we recollect Fulton's first steam-boat: numberless were its imperfections, and irregular were its time and its operations, when first launched on the public gaze. Then was its infancy--now we see it increased in magnitude, speed, and fair proportions; but when it will arrive at the ultima Thule of perfection, who will presume to predict? Once, Fulton's boats were at the tender mercies of the rival Albany sailing packets. Eventful time! How has thou changed its lot, and enabled it in better fortune, to lead the sailing craft ' 'gainst wind and tide.'


"On Wednesday, October 31, this steam-carriage came from Stratford, through the streets of the City, at the different speeds necessary to keep its pace behind or before other carriages, as occasion required, and took up its quarters on Blackfriars-road, to prepare for the day's trial. Accompanied by a scientific friend, a distinguished officer in the navy, we, determined upon criticism, joined Mr. Hancock's friends on the Thursday morning, making eleven passengers in all.


"We started at a quarter past six o'clock, at the rate of nine miles per hour, until we came to Streatham, where we took in water. Proceeding again at the same speed, we passed Croydon, where we took in coke. In the course of a few miles we found the speed decreasing, without apparent cause. For three or four miles it varied from six to eight miles an hour, until we reached Hooley-lane, where we again took in coke, which had been sent from Croydon. This coke being of a very inferior quality, hard and heavy, was, no doubt, the cause of the falling off in speed. As we approached Red Hill, the coke boxes getting low, the fireman came again to a small quantity of London coke, when the carriage immediately improved its speed, and carried us up the hill (a hill on which all the coaches in such weather require six horses), in fine style, at the average speed of six and seven miles an hour. Soon after, the bane of our journey, an insufficient supply of fuel, caused us to flag, within the sight of our station at Horley. A return post-boy took a message forward, and we were met by a wheelbarrow with a bag of coke, which carried us to the King's Arms. We now took in water and a scanty supply of fuel, and started at a fair speed over Crawley Common to Hand Cross; and taking the small quantity of coke that had been left there, we soon arrived at the King's Arms, Hazeldean, where we had the extreme mortification of being obliged to put up for the night, simply for want of coke. We had, however, steamed thirty-eight miles under great disadvantages. A friend proceeded immediately to Brighton, by the horse coach, and forwarded coke, the only thing necessary for proceeding in the morning. This arrive d accordingly; the steam was soon got up, and off we set in good style, continuing our course at the varied rate of nine, ten and eleven miles an hour, till we came within two miles of Brighton, where we fortunately met with a small supply of fuel. Thence we proceeded to Brighton, passed to the Pavilion-gate, round the Grand Parade and Waterloo-place to the town tank, apparently to the great surprise and satisfaction of a large concourse of persons who had by this time assembled. After staying about an hour in Brighton, waiting for our ill-arranged feed of coke, we started with four additional passengers, two gentlemen and two ladies, on our return, at nine or ten miles an hour, till we came to the end of the dead wall. Here our friends alighted, and we were off again at full eleven miles per hour. The speed of the carriage here increased in an extraordinary manner, although upon a very considerable ascent all the way. One of the miles was done in three minutes and a half, and that which terminates at the branch road to Cuckfield and Piecomb, was done in three minutes fifty-eight seconds (above fifteen miles an hour), Aldbourne (nearly ten miles) within fifty-five minutes, including stoppages for water. The small quantity of fuel we obtained here, only enabled us to reach our former quarters at Hazledean, fifteen miles and a half from Brighton.


"With great unwillingness we were now compelled to leave them, although we had been so much delighted with the trial, that we would gladly have remained, had other engagements permitted."


"A gentleman, whose account we can every way depend upon, has furnished us with the following continuation:--


"' The ill-arranged supplies of coke (perhaps necessarily ill-arranged, for few country people on the road knew what coke was,) detained the steamer for the night (of Friday), whilst a messenger was sent forward for a supply of coke. From hence to Handcross was by far the most critical and interesting part of the journey. Almost the whole distance is an ascent, and one part is a hill nearly a mile long, terminating in a still steeper ascent. No anxiety would have been felt for a carriage built for such a road, but the thing was to be done by the 'Infant.' We were told that we should never get up Slaugham Park Hill; the road being in so bad a state that the stage-coaches, at the best of times, put on two extra horses However, in the morning, the fire-bars were well raked, and the best fire made, of which the stock of fuel would admit. A little coal was added to help out, and the 'Infant' started to the task. A run of two or three miles before coming to the hill, so as to have blown the fire a little, would have been better. As it was, the ascent was commenced cheerfully, the pace gradually decreasing till we came to the steepest part. Here three or four of us got off; and the engine was stopped for a minute or two to raise the steam higher. Again started slowly. The engine laboured, and evidently had no power to spare. In a few minutes, however, all anxiety was at an end, and this imperfect, experimental, and weakly 'Infant' cleared all its difficulties, and arrived at Handcross. Two gentlemen in the neighbourhood, Mr. Kinder and a friend of his, came on purpose to witness this part of our performance, and declared that they had fully made up their minds to witness a failure, conceiving the achievement impossible. The landlady, Mrs. Bachelor, at Handcross, could not lend pails, nor would she spare us water, and we might have been in an awkward position had not Mr. Steel, the wheelwright, generously come forward, and offered us his well water and workmen, together with his own active exertions, to supply our empty tanks. Mr. Steel, and one or two others, took their seats on the steamer, and we were presently off again; speed, two miles in ten minutes. We reached Horley without being able to hear of a relay of coke, which had been promised us at Crawley. It was now perceived that one of the wheels rolled considerably, so as to produce a great deal of friction by the tire and felloe rubbing against the side of the carriage. This gradually got worse till we came to Salford Mill, twenty-two miles from London, where we stopped to examine. The owner, Mr. Newnham, in the most handsome manner, gave the use of his yard. The cast-iron flange at the back of the nave was broken off all round, and it was useless to attempt proceeding until the wheel was repaired. We accordingly left for town, but not before experiencing, at the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Newnham, the hearty welcome and the good cheer of true English hospitality.'


" OBSERVATIONS.--This experimental trip was tobe viewed by different persons in different ways. However, this one thing is certain, the carriage that has performed it was ill calculated for the undertaking. Independent of the smallness of the boiler, intended only for experimental purposes; the carriage itself is a thing of 'shreds and patches,' having undergone endless alterations and trials. The roads, which were become exceedingly heavy from the previous rains, had not been so bad for twelve months before; and it is not improbable that had the experiment been made during the fine weather of the previous week, we should have got back to town on the day we started. It is better as it is; because the heavy roads have brought this comparatively fragile machine to a test so severe, that the most sceptical can hardly fail of arriving at the obvious conviction, that if the 'Infant' has proved itself almost equal to the task, maturity cannot fail to perform it with ease and regularity.


" It is gratifying to observe, that upon the whole we met, almost universally, with good-will and attention to our wants all down the road: great curiosity and interest were excited, particularly among the ladies; and at Brighton, notwithstanding the unpleasant state of the weather, the concourse of people before we left was very great. Not the slightest accident, however, occurred, either there or on any part of the road.


" Some of the coachmen were exceedingly civil and polite, and voluntarily told us their horses passed the steamer without any trouble. Mr. Wilkins, of the Cornet, is one of them. Others again shook their beads like Washington Irvine's doubter.


" On this trip, the water, not being regularly stationed, as it must be when a steam conveyance is established was sucked by the engine through a huge proboscis, one of Hancock's caoutchouc hose pipes, forty feet long. I answered the purpose admirably; but required much exertion from the workmen, whose zeal and persevering activity were in every case highly praiseworthy.


"We were invited in our editorial capacity, and went for the purpose of criticising, not as the friend of the inventor. We were delighted with the regularity of the speed and soundness of the work, in very trying circumstances, and highly gratified by the politeness and practical knowledge of Mr. Hancock. The defect of the journey was in the supply of coke, which, in a good state of the roads need not have been more than half a bushel per mile; on this trip it exceeded the half bushel considerably, perhaps twenty-five per cent. The only discomfort of the journey was a feeling of the want of courtesy, which our conductor showed to other coaches. He most obstinately kept the crown of the road, to our great annoyance; and when he did take the side, it was not to the extent he ought. Steam conductors must conciliate.


"A word to the person by whose order fifty yards of Streatham Hill was covered with broken stones, six inches deep all the way across, 'to prevent the return of the steam-carriage.' We withhold his name; though such anexhibition of ignorance and hostility well entitles it to public exposure. We have taken upon us the duty of advocates for elemental locomotion; and, whilst we shall endeavour to discharge ourselves of the task, with courtesy to all who choose to stand up against it in the fair field of argument, we will not be slack to reprobate the conduct of whosoever resorts to any other means. We are not ashamed of being warm in the cause--for it is associated both with humanity and patriotism. When next the individual we allude to reads of a ship-load of poor emigrants, let him consider, that twist the case as he may, still the affecting truth must meet his inquiry-that they are torn from home, from country, from kindred, and friends, to leave a sufficiency for these now unproductive and unnecessary consumers of the food of the poor--the horses which he desires to preserve."

From:
Walter Hancock's Narrative of Twelve Years' Experiments, 1824-1836. Available at Google Books.


To be fair, though, the "reporter" Alexander Gordon was probably the first bona-fide partisan of motorized road transport the world has seen, called a ultra locomotionist by some of his contemporaries in the 1830s. Your casual observer, now, would find more reasons to be critical.

Hancock's steam coaches ran on wedge-wheels invented by the man himself and later used as a model for artillery wheels. Description of the wheels is on pages 87-90 of Hancock's book.
 
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