Comment by Animats
4 hours ago
Piston rings were really bad in the early days.
Remember, this was all iron, not steel. The mass production of steel didn't get going until the 1880s. It's amazing that railroads predate steel.
4 hours ago
Piston rings were really bad in the early days.
Remember, this was all iron, not steel. The mass production of steel didn't get going until the 1880s. It's amazing that railroads predate steel.
Early iron rails wore out and had to be replaced after a given usage (measured in years on a heavily traveled section) --- this was a big part of the need for the Bessemer process to be developed.