Topic summary
Cannon box bearing
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Cannon bearing.
Railway use
The cannon box bearing was introduced by George Stephenson on his locomotive Locomotion of 1825 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway. One of the axles was carried in a cannon box bearing that was pivoted centrally and could tilt from side to side. Unlike Stephenson's earlier locomotives and their steam springs, this new suspension had no springing but was a compensated suspension: as one side was raised, the bearing tube pivoted and the other side was pushed downwards. Although it did not give a stable ride for the locomotive, it did allow the wheels to follow uneven track. Rails of this period were short pieces of cast iron rather than lengths of rolled steel and had frequent, often misaligned, joints.