Glossary

Condenser- A chamber in a steam engine that cools steam and turns it back into water
Conestoga Wagon- A freight wagon usually with a canvas cover and drawn by six horses
Engineer- A person who knew how to make and repair engines in eighteenth-century England; The person on trains who controls the locomotive
Fireman- The person on steam locomotives who shovels coal into the firebox; The person who stoked the firebox of any steam engine before the invention of the locomotive
Knuckle Coupler- A device for connecting rail cars to each other
Locomotive- An engine that pulls rail cars
Manufacture- To make, usually by machine
Prairie Schooner- A wagon used by settlers moving westward in the early to med-nineteenth century
Steam Blast- A pipe for capturing steam exhaust on a steam engine
Technology- Methods and machines used in doing things
Vacuum- T he absence of air; In Watts steam engine, the air-less space in the condenser after steam had been converted back into water
Wagon Trails- Groups of nineteenth-century settlers traveling together, usually to western territories
Wagon way- Crude wooden rails for guiding coal wagons prior to the invention of the locomotive