Stephenson's Rocket
Built: 1829
Rocket was designed and built byt George Stephenson to compete in the Rainhill Trials, a competition to select the locomotive type for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, in October 1829. This locomotive introduced several innovations that have been used on almost every steam locomotive built since. Rocket used a multi-tubular boiler, which made for much more efficient and effective heat transfer between the exhaust gases and the water. Previous boilers consisted of a single pipe surrounded by water. Rocket also used a blastpipe in the chimney for the first time - using the blast of exhaust steam to induce a partial vacuum to pull air through the fire. It averaged 12 miles per hour (achieving a top speed of 30 miles per hour) hauling 13 tons. Rocket was donated to the Patent Museum in London in 1862, and now resides at the Science Museum.