Caption: Dedication - Transportation Building Dedication Addresses
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He alao suggested fittings to the track that In cases of a hard tug "would cause a lover, bolt or claw to reaoh through the rim of one or both wheels so as to take hold of the ground." Stephenson fastened bolt heads on the tires of his earliest locomotive, Blenkinsop in 1811 in the construction of a locomotive for every day use in hauling coal on a colliery tram attempted to solve the problem of adhesion by designing the rack rail and adjusting cogged wheel gearing on the engine to work in it; but the awkward machine wouldn't stay on the track• William Hedley a coal mine superintendent was the first man to tackle the knottiest of the problems of the day with the correct prinoiple as the incentive to his experiments • He found through his tests the most efficacious points of weight placing, and in 1813, built the "Puffing Billy* which creation settled for good and all the much vexed question of the adhesion of smooth wheels to smooth rails. The "Billy" was the Father Locomotive in that it was the first practical engine meeting operation demands through a vantage to propel other than itself. It is pleasant to record that it, the oldest of locomotives, and largely in it original form, is reverently preserved in the South Kensington Museum in London.
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