02948cam a22003373u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003701000130007804000110009104100170010205000070011910000530012624500320017926400510021130000470026233600260030933700260033533800360036150000740039750000310047150801870050252017080068953400540239765300440245170000170249585600550251285600430256776379UtSlPG20260610134752.0mcr n260607r20251874utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  a40017709  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aTJ1 aForney, Matthias N.q(Matthias Nace),d1835-190810aCatechism of the locomotive 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2025  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier  aBased on Georg Kosak's "Katechismus ... der locomotive". See preface.  aRelease date is 2025-06-25  aPeter Becker, Harry Lamé and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)  a"Catechism of the Locomotive" by Matthias N. Forney and Georg Kosak is a technical manual written in the late 19th century. It presents a clear, catechism-style guide to the principles, construction, and operation of steam locomotives for railroad personnel, mechanics, students, and interested readers. Expect plain language, abundant diagrams, and practical calculations covering thermodynamics, boilers, engines, valve gear, performance, and safety.  The opening of the work sets out transcriber notes, plates, and publishing details, then a preface explaining how a German catechism by Kosak inspired a translation that Forney ultimately rewrote into an American-focused handbook, with acknowledgments and a defense of the “catechism” title. The introduction defines the broad audience and the commitment to simple explanations, briefly teaching the algebraic symbols and drawing conventions used. The text then begins its Q&A: it explains the basic steam engine (cylinder, piston, slide-valve, eccentric, rocker, flywheel), the forces of air and steam (atmospheric pressure, boiling point, saturated vs. superheated steam, absolute vs. effective pressure, expansion laws), and the ideas of work, energy, and the mechanical equivalent of heat. It introduces indicator diagrams to read cylinder pressures, and develops slide-valve action through motion-curves, lead, lap, travel, release, and the effects of connecting-rod angularity. Finally, it starts the topic of expansive working of steam, showing how to compute mean pressure and why cutting off early saves fuel, touching on wire-drawing and the comparative economy of different cutoff points. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cBridgeport: F. Keppy, 1874  aLocomotives -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.1 aKosak, Georg4 uhttps://archive.org/details/catechismoflocom00forn40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76379