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Credit
Engineering: a polishing machine (top), and a walking machine (below). Etching. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
The lower figure shows a "walking machine". There was a belief current in the 1810s and 1820s that the best way to use steam power to draw vehicles was to substitute a mechanical horse for the animal variety, complete with legs and feet. This applied particularly to early railways where inventors convinced themselves that a smooth iron wheel could not transmit the required tractive effort without slipping. The present print shows the walking machine patented by Mr David Gordon in 1824
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