The Lombard Steam Log Hauler , patented 21 May 1901, was the first successful commercial application of a continuous track for vehicle propulsion. The concept was later used for military tanks during World War I and for agricultural tractors and construction equipment following the war.
23-537: Alvin Orlando Lombard was a blacksmith building logging equipment in Waterville, Maine . He built 83 steam log haulers between 1901 and 1917. These log haulers resembled a saddle-tank steam locomotive with a small platform in front of the boiler where the cowcatcher might be expected. A steering wheel on the platform moved a large pair of skis beneath the platform. A set of tracked vehicle treads occupied
46-426: A crew of four men. An engineer and fireman occupied the cab behind the boiler, and a steersman sat on the platform in front. A conductor rode on the sleds with a bell-rope or wire to signal the crew in the cab. The earliest log haulers pulled three sleds, and later models were designed to pull eight sleds. Each train carried 40,000 to 100,000 board-feet of logs. The record train length was said to be 24 sleds with
69-549: A device for removing knots from sulfite process pulp, and a governor to control the speed of water turbines. Antarctic Mount Lombard was named in recognition of the Lombard Log Hauler as the first application of knowledge of snow mechanics to trafficability. His Waterville home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . List of Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks The following
92-452: A museum or collection that includes related objects of special significance to, but not necessarily a major evolutionary step in, the historical development of mechanical engineering. Clicking the landmark number in the first column will take you to the ASME page on the site where you will also find the downloadable brochure from the dedication. There are over 275 landmarks on the list. One of
115-448: A single 6-mile-long (10 km) iced haul road in Stetson, Maine , by nightly application of water from a sprinkler sled, and strung a telephone line with frequent call boxes to dispatch sled trains over that road. The company estimated those three Lombard log haulers did the work of 60 horses. The first two Lombard log haulers were used near Eustis, Maine , in 1901 prior to construction of
138-404: A total length of 1,650 feet (500 m). The greatest operational difficulty was on downhill grades where ice allowed the sleds to accelerate faster than the engine. Jack-knifing sleds pushed many log haulers into trees, and most photos of log haulers show rebuilt cabs and bent ironwork on the boiler and saddle tank. Hay was spread over the downhill routes in an effort to increase friction under
161-575: Is a list of Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks as designated by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) since it began the program in 1971. The designation is granted to existing artifacts or systems representing significant mechanical engineering technology. Mechanical Engineering Heritage Sites are particular locales at which some event or development occurred or which some machine, building, or complex of significance occupied. Also Mechanical Engineering Heritage Collections refers to
184-702: The Eustis Railroad . These early machines had an upright boiler and were steered by a team of horses. Most of the Lombard log haulers were used in Maine and New Hampshire . A few were used in Michigan , Wisconsin and Russia . Lombard began building 6-cylinder gasoline -powered log haulers in 1914, produced a more powerful "Big 6" later, and built one Fairbanks-Morse Diesel engine hauler in 1934. The internal combustion log haulers (called Lombard tractors) were less powerful than
207-582: The US and highest rack railway in the world. Power-generation station with one of the world's only high-pressure topping turbines, which set new records in the late 1920s. World's first cog railway. One of the first successful uses of hydroelectric power in the world, including the first successful long-distance transmission of power. Two of the largest ground vehicles ever built, including automatic load-leveling systems. First large-scale application of steam pumping, later water power, to public water supply. Two of
230-543: The United States and the first practical subway in New York City. First US railroad in public service. Surviving 18th-century iron manufacturing center. Early 20th-century ironworks demonstrating the adaptability required for industrial survival. Typical beam steam engine of the mid-19th century, directly connected to sugar crushing rolls. First rocket engine to use high-energy liquid hydrogen as fuel. Prototype of
253-483: The automated factory; dubbed the 'Mechanical Marvel.' ASME brochure Early reaction, or Scotch, turbine , a type that later found widespread application. ASME brochure World's first nuclear power plant to demonstrate the breeder concept. First practical oil recovery system using salt-well drilling techniques and modern pipe-driving methods, marks beginning of US petroleum industry. First US armory noted for machinery for mass production of small arms, including
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#1732855916306276-543: The family sawmill in Lincoln, Maine . He later obtained patents for some of his mechanical innovations at the sawmill, and opened a blacksmith shop in Waterville, Maine with his brother, Samuel Lombard. Samuel oversaw manufacturing of sawmill and logging equipment Alvin had designed. In their shop in Waterville, the Lombard brothers produced the huge steam-powered locomotives that slid on skis and were powered by huge tracks in
299-730: The first vertical triple-expansion marine engines. Last US pit-cast jib crane to operate in the casting of iron pipe. World's largest electric-power generator for nearly 25 years, achieving many design firsts. The oldest steam-generating plant of its kind in the Northeastern United States. First US passenger incline. Second US passenger incline. First major US water power system and basis for integrating urban planning with industrial development. First Edison hydroelectric central station. Coperating landmark by ASME IEEE and ASCE . Early 19th-century textile mill and machine shop. The first fully electrically signaled railroad in
322-652: The large iron steering wheel. Some steersmen earned enough money to purchase fire-resistant leather clothing. Some log haulers had a small roofed shelter built on the steering platform, but the shelter limited the steersman's ability to jump clear when collision became inevitable, and he would require luck to avoid injury from the following trainload of logs. Berlin Mills Company was one of the larger woods operators to use Lombard log haulers. They purchased one machine in 1904, and then purchased two more to maintain reliable operation when one needed repairs. The company maintained
345-527: The largest and nearly the most powerful ever built in the United States for mechanical drive. Located at Harmony Mills . The most powerful steam turbine-generator in the world at the time of its construction. Reconstruction of the first successful commercial ironworks in North America. A replica of the first successful commercial oil refinery in the US West. 19th-century steam pumps at the (former) summit of
368-434: The most complicated cable-car systems to run from a single station. Unusual triple-expansion, three-crank "rocker" engine, driving high-capacity, high-speed pumps. The most advanced low-lift drainage pump in use in the early 20th century, later used worldwide. First US naval shipyard, achieving notable firsts in technology and producing many well-known US naval vessels. Two of the oldest surviving water turbines, probably
391-460: The movement of harvested logs through the woods and set the stage for every snowmobile , tank and bulldozer ever built. Alvin Lombard was born in Springfield, Maine in 1856. He demonstrated mechanical aptitude as a boy building small machines including a model wood-splitter powered by a water wheel. He demonstrated the model by cutting cucumber slices. At the age of 8, Alvin began working in
414-454: The rear, enabling them to travel throughout the Maine woods free from the steel tracks that limited other railroad vehicles. In time, Lombard produced smaller, diesel powered loghaulers as well as trucks, snowplows and other commercial vehicles. Lombard also obtained patents for a pulpwood de barker , a device for automatically cutting pulpwood into shorter lengths for grinding, a pulpwood crusher,
437-477: The ship canal. Last reciprocating steam engines installed in a naval ship. First US typography machine to set, justify, and distribute foundry type from a common case using one operator. Early 20th-century water pump driven by a Corliss steam engine. Early 20th-century hydroelectric plant incorporating innovative technologies. First US plutonium production reactor placed in commercial operation. First air-conditioned mine in North America. Highest railway in
460-404: The sleds, but hungry deer sometimes consumed the hay before the train arrived. The steersman was regarded as the hero of the crew. In sub-freezing temperatures down to 40 degrees below zero, he sat in an exposed position in front of the train. Sparks flying out of the boiler stack above him would sometimes set his clothing on fire as avoidance of trees required his full attention and effort turning
483-405: The space beneath the boiler where driving wheels might be expected. The locomotive cylinders powered the treads through a gear train. The log haulers mechanically resembled 10- to 30-ton snowmobiles with a top speed of about 4.5 miles per hour (7.2 km/h). While the ground was covered with snow and ice, a log hauler could tow a string of sleds filled with logs. Each sled train required
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#1732855916306506-440: The steam log haulers; and resembled a stake body truck on a skis and tracks chassis. The steam-powered haulers are thought to have been used as late as 1929. At least ten of the Lombard tractors were preserved at Churchill Depot as recently as the 1960s. Antarctic Mount Lombard was named in recognition of the Lombard Log Hauler as the first application of knowledge of snow mechanics to trafficability. The Lombard Steam Log Hauler
529-606: Was designated a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1982 following nomination by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers . Lombard Steam Log Haulers have been preserved and restored in: Alvin Orlando Lombard Alvin Orlando Lombard (1856-1937) was the American inventor of the track-wheeled vehicle. First patented in 1901, the Lombard Steam Log Hauler revolutionized
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