The Agenoria Locomotive

 This strange looking contraption, named after the Roman goddess of activity and industry, was built in 1829 by the Foster, Rastrick & Co. in Stourbridge, England. It was purchased by a mining partnership near Kingswindsford, England to haul minerals three miles to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. The locomotive served on this line until it was retired in about 1864. The original locomotive has been restored and is on display at the National Railway Museum, York. This Blender model is based on photos of the locomotive in the N.R.M.

In an interesting footnote this story: Three engines, nearly identical to the Agenoria, named Stourbridge Lion were purchased by an American engineer representing the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co. These were delivered in New York in 1829 and tested on specially prepared rails in Pennsylvania. This was the first use of steam locomotives on rails in the United States. The trials were a success for the locomotive. However, due to an error in the specifications (the locomotives were twice as heavy as expected) and the trial runs destroyed the tracks. The engines were never actually used.

 

Planet Carriage

At the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, the replica of Stephenson's Planet locomotive takes tourists for a ride in carriages like this one.

Stephenson's Planet

 

In November 1830 the Planet locomotive set a speed record travelling 30 miles (50 Km) in one hour. It was the ninth engine sold to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway by Stephenson’s company just one year after his Rocket engine won the completion to supply the L&MR. The Planet incorporated several advances in design and engineering. It was the first to use horizontal cylinders mounted internally. In total Stephenson built six Planets for the railway and a further three were made by another company using Stephenson supplied drawings.

My model is based mainly on the replica made in 1992 by the Friends of Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, but without some of the modern instruments and devices used on the replica.

Stephenson's Rocket

 

In 1829, Robert Stephenson’s Rocket locomotive won a competition to power the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. It was engineered and built at Stephenson’s iron works in Newcastle upon Tyne with advice from Robert’s father George. The engine had a maximum speed of 45 kph (28 mph.) The opening ceremony for the L&MR was held at Liverpool on 15 September 1830. Unfortunately, the Liverpool Member of Parliament, William Huskisson, while trying to lobby the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, fell out of one of the carriages and was run over by the train and killed. This Blender model is based primarily on the version of the engine in the National Railway Museum, York.

#Rocket #Stephenson #locomotive #engine #train #steam #Blender #Cycles

The Turtle Submarine

 In 1775, American engineer and inventor David Bushnell of Connecticut built the first submarine specially designed for naval combat. The project was championed by the Connecticut governor who persuaded George Washington to provide funding for the construction. Bushnell’s idea was to approach enemy ships from below, drill into the hull with an auger and release an attached barrel filled with black powder. The barrel contained mechanically timed fuse, probably using a flintlock for ignition of the explosive. The Turtle’s hull was heavy oak staves covered in tar to make it water tight. Several attempts were made sink ships in the British blockade of New York harbor: all of them failed.

 On the night of 6 September 1776, Sgt. Ezra Lee set out with 20 minutes of air in the Turtle to sink the British flag-ship, HMS Eagle, in the harbor. After about two hours, Lee was unable to drill into the British ship’s hull. He was probably exhausted and, breathing carbon dioxide somewhat confused, at this point. He released the bomb anyway, which drifted into the East River where it made a tremendous explosion.

 Note on modelling the turtle: There are detailed written descriptions of the Turtle by Bushnell, but no drawings have survived. Based on the descriptions, several reproductions have been made and are on display in various museums. Clearly the builders of these subs had to employ some guesswork regarding the details. My model is an amalgam of some of these reproductions with some of my own guesswork.

 #Turtle #submarine #American_Revolution #Bushnell #Blender #Cycles

CSS H. L. Hunley

 

The CSS H. L. Hunley, a Confederate submarine, made history on 17 February 1864 when it became the first submarine to sink an enemy ship, the USS Housatonic, in Charleston, SC, harbour. The boat was designed and built in 1863 in Mobile, AL, CSA, and named for the principal investor in the project. In 1864 it was shipped by rail to Charleston and taken over by the confederate army. The Hunley carried a crew of seven or eight, one Skipper and the rest to hand crank the propeller. The sub was 12 Meters in length with a beam of 1.17 Meters and a hull height of 1.2 Meters. It had a top speed of 7.4 Km/hr. Not only was the interior very cramped for the crew, but the two hatches were only 40 cm in diameter, making entry difficult as well. Hunley’s armament was a spar torpedo, a copper canister containing 41 Kg of black powder explosive mounted on the end of a 6.7 Meter spar. The torpedo was equipped with a barbed spike designed to be rammed into the hull of an enemy ship below the water line. The Hunley would then be backed away and the torpedo detonated by withdrawing a cord attached to the fuse. Unfortunately for the crew, the torpedo seems to have exploded within a few meters of the sub and sank both the target and the Hunley.

This model is based, in part, on the reproduction of the Hunley on display at the Charleston Museum, which I saw in 2001 on a visit to South Carolina. I first modelled the Hunley in SketchUp in 2014.

#army #Charleston #Civil_War #Confederate #CSS #hand-powered #Hunley #navy #SC #South_Carolina #submarine

The Whitworth 12 Pounder Gun

The Whitworth 12 Pounder was designed and manufactured in England by Joseph Whitworth in the mid-nineteenth century. The gun’s design was unusual for field artillery of that period: it was breech loaded and had hexagonal rifling, which gave it a high degree of accuracy and a range of up to six miles. The barrel was 7’ 9” (2.36 M) long; the gun weighed 896 lbs. (406.4 Kg) and was manned by a crew of six.

After being rejected by the British army due to cost, it was purchased by the Confederate army in the U.S. civil war. It was also used by the Union Army, particularly at the battle of Gettysburg.

 #Whitworth #12_pounder #artillery #British #US_civil_war #Blender #Cycles