Talk:Mallet locomotive
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Please note: Anatole Mallet was a Swiss Engineer. From the French part of Switz. So he cannot be a Frenchman! |
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The diagram of the Mallet locomotive articulation is wrong. The front engine (not strictly speaking, a bogie) must translate laterally, otherwise it will derail on a curve. The wheels must describe an arc. It does not simply pivot on the locomotive centreline at the front engine centre as indicated. It must be allowed sideways play, provided by a pivot a long way from the centre, or by a bar linkage, or a pin, sprung to centre in a slot. In Baldwin Mallets, the pivot was usually near the rear, high pressure, cylinders on the fixed engine. The two carrying bogies on the diagram are irrelevant to the Mallet design: the rear one as drawn is incorrectly pivoted for the same reason as above; the front one is broadly correct. Two four-wheel engines would be sufficient to illustrate the concept.
The diagram also needs rails and some labels; a non-technical viewer cannot be expected to understand what is shown, because it does not say it is the underside of a locomotive on a curve, and the curved rails are not shown.
Verifiable references: Robins J G, 1973, World Steam Locomotives, Bartholomew ISBN 0851529232 illustrated the original 1887 Mallet articulated 0440 http://www.ironhorse129.com/prototype/Mallet/Baldwin65/Design.htm (last accessed 12/3/06) illustrated Baldwin's comparison to the Fairlie with illustrations from Baldwin Record 65
kind regards
Andrew Starr, Manchester UK
