Joseph Harrison Jr.

[4] Attempts to double their tractive power by adding a second pair of driving wheels were unsuccessful, because of uneven distribution of the load between the axles.

[3] Weighing about 11 tons, it was the most powerful locomotive built to date, demonstrated by its drawing 101 fully-loaded coal cars the length of the Reading's road.

Czar Nicholas had ordered the building of a railroad between Saint Petersburg and Moscow, and the engineers were selecting companies to recommend for the project.

In 1843, Harrison, Eastwick, and their new partner Baltimore engineer Thomas Winans, traveled to Russia and were awarded a five-year $3,000,000 contract to build rolling stock for the railway.

[3] The railroad engineer who surveyed and laid the 400 mi (640 km) of track for the Saint Petersburg–Moscow Railway was Major George Washington Whistler, also an American.

[6] "During the progress of this work, other orders, reaching to nearly two million dollars, were added to the original amount, including the completion of the great Cast Iron Bridge over the River Neva, at St. Petersburg, the largest and most costly structure of the kind in the world.

"[5]: 34  At the November 12, 1850 opening ceremonies for the Neva railroad bridge, the Czar awarded Harrison a gold medal and other honors.

[10] Also part of the project were ten luxurious rowhouses faced with stone (rental properties), that lined the north side of Locust Street and shared the rear garden with the mansion.

[2] Harrison also had Sloan design a Russian-styled dacha, or country house, in Northeast Philadelphia along the Delaware River, between Holmesburg and Torresdale.

[13] Harrison invented a new type of steam boiler, based upon the power of a hollow cast-iron sphere to withstand pressure.

"Early in his engineering life, Mr. Harrison's attention was directed to the means of improving steam generation, more particularly with a view of making this powerful agent less dangerous, and less liable to explosion.

At the International Exhibition, held in London in 1862, the highest class medal was awarded to this boiler, for originality of design and general merit.

This spherical form has peculiar geometrical and mechanical advantages; it is uniformly strained by internal pressure, and it is practically much stronger than a hollow cylinder of like diameter and thickness of shell.

Hollow curved necks, three-and-a-quarter inches in internal diameter, make the communication between the spheres.Four of the spheres are cast together, constituting what is called a "unit."

[15]The American Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded Harrison its 1871 Rumford Gold Medal for his safety improvements to steam boilers.

[3] In the midst of the Civil War, Harrison chaired the Fine Arts Committee for the Great Central Fair of the U.S. Sanitary Commission.

Most of Philadelphia's Logan Square was covered by a temporary building, and Philadelphians lent paintings and sculptures from their private collections.

[6] "If we as a nation are to keep pace with the civilization and refinement of the older states of the Christian world, we too, must have our free Art Galleries and Museums, owned by, enjoyed by, and cared for by the people.

Harrison's personal hero was Benjamin Franklin, another inventor and self-made man, and the art collector purchased multiple portraits of the Founding Father.

[20] Harrison commissioned artist Christian Schussele to paint Benjamin Franklin Appearing before the Privy Council (1857, Huntington Library and Museum).

Harrison presented two illustrated lectures at the institute: An Essay on the Steam Boiler (January 16, 1867);[14] and The Locomotive Engine, and Philadelphia's Share in Its Early Improvements (February 21, 1872).

[1] Harrison purchased more than twenty portraits and historical paintings at the 1854 auction of the contents of Philadelphia's Peale Museum (and at bargain prices).

[7]: 53 Harrison owned John Vanderlyn's sensuous nude, Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos (c.1812), which had been praised in Paris, but was controversial in America.

[33] Harrison's art collection exceeded 400 paintings and sculptures (excluding the Indian Gallery), and he privately published an 1870 catalogue.

[37] Philadelphia had served as the temporary national capital during the 1790s, and in November 1794 Stuart wrote to his uncle of his upcoming arrival: "The object of my journey is only to secure a picture of the President, & finish yours.

[42] Clarke and his heirs owned the Vaughn Portrait until 1936, when his Estate sold it to Andrew Mellon, for the National Gallery of Art.

When all have answered, King Solomon agrees that the iron worker has made a major contribution to the Temple, and invites him to sit at his right hand.

[5] He gathered these in a privately printed book, along with memoirs of his years spent in Russia,[3] and gave copies to his children and grandchildren at Christmas 1867.

[5] The lesson he hoped to instill in his family members was respect for the craftsman — "the value of what is but too frequently thought to be very humble labor.