The Grasshopper
and
The Corliss
MILESTONES
in the Mighty Age of Steam
South Station which houses the Grasshopper locomotive in Carillon Park.
South Station is a modest little building, representing in its styleof construction a typical railroad station in the days when therailroad first came to the Miami Valley. However, its function isnot to provide a waiting place for passengers but to serve as thehome of one of the oldest locomotives still in existence. The miniaturepower house across the way is much more modern in its construction.The Corliss engine which has been re-erected in thisbuilding was in operation at NCR for almost fifty years.
The Corliss Engine Building has much the appearance of a small power house.
When James Watt gave the world the condensing steam enginein 1788 he ushered in an era in man’s progress which broughtwith it the Industrial Revolution and fundamental changes inour way of life. Steam has made possible the development of our vastindustries, our modern transportation on land and on sea, and an immeasurableexpansion of the horizons of our daily life.
Two of the most far-reaching uses of the principle of production ofpower through steam have been in transportation and in the generationof electricity. In both instances the first steps toward the ultimateachievement were crude and none too convincing, but they did lead tofurther development and outstanding accomplishment.
After the discovery of the power of steam, man toyed with the idea ofa steam engine that could move itself. The implications of such aninvention were far reaching. The first steps were taken in England in theearly part of the nineteenth century and a locomotive which successfullyhauled a train of vehicles was built there in 1825. The first Americanlocomotive was the Tom Thumb built by Peter Cooper.
In a competition sponsored by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,Phineas Davis, a watchmaker of York, Pennsylvania, built a locomotivewhich was referred to as the “grasshopper” type because of its appearanceand the up-and-down motion of its driving rods. This was reallythe first successful steam railroad engine in this country.
Turning to the stationary steam engine for the production of directpower and for generating electricity, we find that the greatest advancein this field was the Corliss engine. This engine which incorporated newprinciples of control and fuel economy was the invention of George H.Corliss, a New England inventor who, as much as any other man, wasresponsible for the development of the power facilities which have madepossible the industrialization of this nation.
The Grasshopper locomotive and the Corliss engine, each in its ownway, made a vital contribution to the development of America. Each isincluded in the Carillon Park exhibits becaus