Title: Bulletin
Identifier: bulletin228smit (find matches)
Year: 1961-1962 (1960s)
Authors: Smithsonian Institution; United States. Dept. of the Interior; United States National Museum
Subjects: Science
Publisher: Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press, (etc. ); for sale by the Supt. of Docs. , U. S. Govt Print. Off
Contributing Library: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library

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Figure 8.—A 2-wheel Bissell truck installed on the Pennsylvania Railroad's No. gr. This engine originally an 0-8-0 Winans Camel built in February 1854, was rebuilt by John P. Laird in 1867, at which time the Bissell truck was added. Note that Hudson equalizing lever was not used. (Smithsonian photo 468o6~k) The British journal Engineering, in an article other- wise friendly to the inventor, expressed some skepti- cism as to the real merit of Hudson's invention.'^ If Mr. Hudson's truck, ... be examined, it will be seen that the radius link serves no other purpose than that of carrying the truck along with the engine, and this could obviously be ecjually done by the pivot or central pin of the truck itself. It is probable that few builders other than Rogers made use of the Hudson radial link.'" One of these was John Headden, whose General Darcy, shown in figure 6, was fitted with the Hudson truck. Thus, by 1860 there had been perfected and adopted a successful 4-wheel safety truck for 4-4-0's and 4-6-0's used in general mixed and passenger 15 Engineertng, July 12, 1867, vol. 4, p. 29. '8 John Headden, master mechanic of the New Jersey Rail- road and Transportation Company, built at the road's Jersey City shops several locomotives equipped with Hudson's variety of the Bissell truck. Headden, upon the death of Hudson, succeeded him in 1881 as superintendent of the Roger "Works. service. But as the decade advanced, the need grew for heavy freight engines that could be safely run at speed. Without a pilot truck, the leading driving axle of the freight engine was generally overloaded. While the application of a 4-wheel truck reduced this front-end overload and permitted faster running it materially reduced the traction of the drivers by bearing too great a portion of the total weight. This loss of traction was of course highly undesirable and generally disqualified the use of 4-wheel trucks for freight engines. W^hat was needed was a truck which would guide the 0-6-0's and 0-8-0's around curves and yet leave the greater portion of the weight on the drivers. The 2-wheel, or pony, truck met these requirements."' 1' It is believed that Harrison, Winans and Eastwick made one of the first uses of a 2-wheel radial truck on a 2-6-0 built at the Alexandrovsky Arsenal, St. Petersburg, in 1844-46. The success or exact particulars of these machines is unknown. See John Jahn, Die Dampflokomotive in Entwicklungsgeschichiltcher Darslellung Hires Gesamtaujbaues, Berlin, 1924, p. 239; Richard E. 126 BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSUEM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

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