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1881. SHAW'S FOUR-CYLINDER BALANCED ENGINE
THE Hinkley Locomotive Works in 1881 built a locomotive called the H. F. Shaw which had four cylinders and which was publicized as being entirely free from the pounding and oscillating action of two-cylindered engines. As Sinclair describes it:

The cylinders were arranged side by side, transmitting the power to crank pins diametrically opposite each other. One of the crank pins connected outside the driving wheel at the same position an ordinary crank pin would be located, and carried a double crank, the middle of which was supported in a bearing secured in an outside frame. The bearing was the driving fulcrum,a main rod working at each side of it.

The engine was equivalent to one with two cylinders 16" by 24" and driving wheels 63" in diameter. The weight in working order was 74,000 pounds, of which 25,600 pounds was on the truck wheels.... The engine was well designed and built in first-class manner. It was used to a considerable extent on train service in an experimental fashion, and worked quite satisfactorily.


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