STEAM LOCOMOTIVE
During the 1780's John Fitch created the first model of a steam locomotive engine. He pesented this idea in front of George Washington and his cabinet in Philadelphia. Fitch's vision was to make a bigger model and run it through the Allegany Mountains where the U.S. faced problems of shipping supplies.
"Fitch's little locomotive operated on track made of wooden beams held in place by wheels with flanges on the outside of the wood rails, rather than inside as later became standard railroad practice. It featured a copper boiler mounted sideways on the frame and employed a sort of grasshopper lever motion to transmit power to the wheels"(nhs). The United States government wasn't well receptive to this idea and didn't want the shipping of supplies to be done by machine.
In the early 19th century, Richard Trevithick made a steam locomotive similar to Fitch's. Fitch had passed away and his idea of the steam locomotive became forgotten. The United States imported Trevithick's English made model even though the whole time Fitch's model was in their own backyard.
