Railway locomotives Several manufacturers produced a significant number of vertical boiler locomotives. Notable amongst these were: •
Alexander Chaplin & Co. of Glasgow, who produced a range of steam-powered industrial products which included steam cranes, hoists, locomotives, pumping and winding engines, ship's deck engines and sea water distilling apparatus. Between 1860 and 1899, it delivered 135 vertical boiler locomotives similar to the
East London Harbour 0-4-0VB to customers around the world. •
De Winton of
Caernarfon, who produced at least 34
narrow gauge locomotives, mainly for use in the
slate quarries of
Wales. •
Sentinel Waggon Works of
Shrewsbury, who produced a large number of
shunters using their
high-pressure vertical boilers. These were mainly used on
industrial railways in Britain. •
Société anonyme John Cockerill produced 891 standard gauge shunting locomotives between 1867 and 1942 using a standard design with five sizes.
Steam lorries The
Sentinel Waggon Works also produced a range of road lorries (
steam wagons) based on their
high-pressure vertical boilers
Steam tractors The
Best Manufacturing Company of
San Leandro in
California produced a range of
steam tractors that used vertical boilers.
Steam rollers Certain designs of
steam roller departed from the conventional
traction engine style of a horizontal boiler with an engine mounted above. Vertical-boilered rollers were built around a substantial girder frame chassis, with the boiler being mounted low down between the front and rear rolls. Such designs were not common in the UK.
Steam donkeys The traditional form of
steam donkey (as a mobile winch used in the logging industry) married a vertical boiler with a steam engine on a rigid base fitted with skids for mobility. Since the ground to be traversed would be rough and rarely level, the water-level -tolerant design of the vertical boiler was an obvious choice.
Steam shovels and cranes Construction equipment such as
steam cranes and
steam shovels used
vertical boilers to good effect. On a rotating base, the weight of the boiler would help to counterbalance the load suspended from the shovel bucket or crane jib, mounted on the opposite side of the pivot from the boiler. The compact boiler footprint permitted smaller designs than would have been the case for a horizontal type, thus allowing use on smaller worksites; the extra height of a vertical boiler being less critical for such a generally tall machine.
Marine applications Some
steam boats, particularly smaller types such as river launches, were designed around a vertical boiler. The small footprint of the boiler permitting smaller, more space-efficient designs, with less of the usable vessel being occupied by the means of propulsion rather than the payload.
Stationary applications Vertical types such as the
Cochran boiler provided useful, small footprint,
package solutions for many stationary applications, including process and space heating. == Notes ==