WAS born at Chester, England, 2d of May, 1783, and
came to Cincinnati in 1819. He was a machinist by trade, and known as a
skilled workman, acting as foreman for William Green & Co. He
afterward carried on a shop on the site of the Old Pike Distillery, on
Sycamore Street, and at another time his establishment was located where
at present stands the auction-house of James H. Laws & Co., on
Second Street.
Francis Shield spent many years of his life in
perfecting inventions. He invented the first steam-carriages ever seen
in America. He built two of these machines—one he took to Baltimore
and disposed of, and the other was sold in New Orleans, and afterward
fitted with flanged-wheels and used on the Ponchartrain Railroad.
Francis Shield died on the 11th of November, 1840. His remains rest
under a beautiful monument in Spring Grove Cemetery, erected to his
memory by his sons, Edward M., and George Shield. The following is a
description of his locomotive engine, copied from the press of the day :
[May 20, 1830.]
"LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES.
"Those persons desirous of witnessing a
locomotive engine in operation upon a railway, will do well to visit the
Amphitheater on Sycamore Street (site of old National Theater),
where there is now one running. This engine was built in this city, by
Francis Shield, one of our most ingenious mechanics, and is a beautiful
specimen of workmanship. It propels the car, which carries a dozen
persons, at the rate of from seven to ten miles per hour."
[Cincinnati Advertiser and Ohio
Phoenix, July 31, 1830.]
"The Messrs. Shield of this place, who some
time since invented and built for Mr. Grover, of Lexington, Kentucky, a
locomotive engine, called the Western Star, have made some very
ingenious and important improvements on that plan, which can be seen
exemplified in the Cincinnati, a new railroad engine and car, which they
have recently constructed, and which now is exhibiting at the
Amphitheater in this city. We are assured that the engine is capable of
overcoming an elevation of eighty or ninety feet in the mile with the
greatest ease, very little difference being perceptible between the
level and the above-mentioned elevation, as to speed. The principal
improvements in the engine consist of compactness and the application of
power direct to the carriage, while the arrangement of the boiler is
supposed to present a greater surface of water to the action of calorie
than any other boiler heretofore constructed for a like purpose,
consequently a greater quantity of steam must be generated in a given
time from the same quantity of fuel.
"The boiler itself is unique, and can not
fail to interest the scientific and learned. The movement of the machine
on the railway is admirable, and we should suppose that the engine, with
the car attached carrying four persons, would perform the distance of
from eight to sixteen miles per hour, at pleasure; and we have been
assured by competent judges that when placed on a straight and level
rail, it would perform with ease thirty miles an hour, carrying from
four to eight persons. The workmanship of the whole is admirably
finished, and is very creditable to Mr. Shield and the very ingenious
young mechanic, his son. We understand that Mr. Shield intends very
shortly to visit Baltimore and the Eastern cities with his improvement,
so that the machine will remain here but a short time, and we can not
but recommend an early and general attendance at the Amphitheater to
witness this very fine specimen of the mechanical arts."
Francis Shield also built a printing-press for
General Jacob and Commodore Ammen's father, who established one of the
earliest newspapers in the State of Ohio, at Ripley.
Source: In Memoriam
Cincinnati 1881, Cincinnati, A. E. Jones, Publisher, 1881.
