A letter to the Editor of Railway Age in October 1928 -
To the Editor:
As a matter of possible interest, I am sending you a photograph of the first
gasoline-propelled hand car, to the best of my knowledge and belief, made in
this country, which was built in 1893. I used this hand car for inspection
purposes, as at that time I was superintendent of the St. Louis division of the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.
The engine was built by a small company located at Buda. III. The ignition
system consisted of a Bunsen burner, the flame of which was centered on a small
capped pipe screwed into the head of the cylinder. This was enclosed by a
jacket and when the pipe became red hot, the piston, at the top of its stroke,
touched a trigger which opened a port at the bottom of this pipe and the
compressed gas was thereby ignited.
We used a leather belt extending from a pulley on the shaft to a pulley on the
axle The gear shift was accomplished by a loose pulley and on a grade the belt
was shifted over onto the loose pulley sufficiently to allow the speed of the
engine to continue with such adhesion as could be obtained by slipping on the
tight pulley.
W. G Besler
Chairman of the Board, Central Railroad of New Jersey
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ
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