states that "although the running wheels will pass over the ground as in ordinary carriages, yet the weight of the carriage and its burthen is borne by

the small wheels, and consequently, through the large running wheels should pass over soft, wet, or uneven ground, the wheels which actually bear the weight, and upon which the carriage travels, move upon a smooth, even perpetual railway on which there is little or no resistance." The patentee, however, omits to notice the obvious fact, that the little wheel does not assist the great wheel out of the mire, but rather tends to sink it deeper by reason of its weight and the heavy incumbrances it entails, to say nothing of the extrafriction caused by an unnecessary increase of rubbing surface in the inultiplied axles.

"This contrivance," the patentee adds, "is equally applicable to the wheels of any kind of carriage, and is only shown in the drawing as adapted to a tram waggon for the purpose of illustrating its peculiar construction and adaptation." A similar invention was patented by Mr. George Hunter of Edinburgh in 1826. Messrs. Bramley and Parker, of Moulsley Priory, in Surrey, received patent grants for their improvements in locomotive carriages, applicable to rail and other roads; which we shall very briefly describe, as they do not appear to us likely to become of much practical utility in the present state of the art of locomotion. The improvements contemplated are of three kinds. The first consists of a carriage to be propelled by horses, working a pair of tread-wheels; the second of a light carriage to be propelled by one or more men, resting with their chests on cushions, and communicating motion to cranks by pushing out with their feet, as in the act of swimming; the third consists of an arrangement for preserving the box of the wheel on the end of the axle. The latter plan is very deficient in novelty; the other two are modifications of many similar propositions to obtain mechanical force from animal agency; but we cannot agree with the ingenious patentees that they are "certain improvements." The details of these inventions, with the amusing illustrative drawings, may be seen at the "Six clerks' office" in Chancery-lane.

Mr. Gordon, in his Treatise on Locomotion, page 58, states, that in the beginning of the year 1831, the directors of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch railway, near Glasgow, directed their engineer to make out a plan and specification of two locomotive engines, able to drag 60 tons gross weight at the rate of 4 or 5 miles an hour. This was done accordingly, and the engines contracted for by Messrs. Murdoch and Aitken engineers, Hill-street Glasgow, who brought the first upon the railway the 10th of May, and the second upon the 10th of September the same year. Both engines travelled several miles upon the railway; the first day they were brought out of the yard at Glasgow, and have since, during a course of eighteen months' trial, proved themselves the most efficient engines of the kind ever made in the kingdom, being capable of taking 10 tons

a

more on a level railway, than any engine yet made of the same size of cylinder with a pressure of 50lbs. to the square inch upon the boiler. The line of railway on which these engines daily travel is one of the very worst description for the effectual working of such engines, being 81 miles in length, with numerous abrupt curves and descents. The descents are 1 in 50, 1 in 116, 1 in 120, &c.; the curves are of a radius of 344, the arch 335 feet; radius 400 feet, arch 650; radius 700 feet, arch 545 feet, &c. The descents being in favour of the load, the bringing up the empty waggon is considered the heaviest work, yet one of these engines has frequently returned from Kirkintilloch, where the railway ends, with 50 empty waggons, in the ordinary course of trade, the weight of which being about 60 tons; but when loaded, they carry a gross weight of about 200 tons. The daily load of engine, is from 20 to 50 loaded waggons, according to the circumstances, and trade occurring on the road. One of the great improvements on these engines is, the metallic packing of the pistons, which are the first of the kind ever used, and of such a description, that the 2 engines have not cost one shil ing in 18 months for packing, and use neither grease nor any other unctuous substance whatever for the cylinders, since their commencement: another, and perhaps the greatest advantage of these pistons, is the economy of labour, the reduction of friction, and the saving of fuel thereby effected, the area of the fireplace being just 4 feet, or one-half of the size of that in the Liverpool engines. These pistons are each formed of two iron rings in three segments; a wedge between each segment is pressed by a spiral spring.

In the report by the directors of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch railway, to the proprietors at their general meeting on the 1st of February, 1832, these engines are noticed in the following manner:-"Your committee have, as mentioned in last year's report, built two locomotive engines, which have been in employment on the railway for nearly six months, and the whole of the trade from the colleries to Kirkintilloch is now drawn by these machines. The committee, after much consideration, devolved the whole form and plan of these engines to Mr. Dodds, the superintendant. It was strongly urged by some of the proprietors that these engines should be got from England, and that the improvements of the engines adopted on the Liverpool railway should be introduced in constructing those for the Company. On inquiry, however, no certain data could be obtained whereby to calculate what would be the expense of maintaining in repair such improved engines; and it was also ascertained that they were very liable to be deranged, when working at the high speeds for which they are calculated. For these reasons, the committee devolved on Mr. Dodds the entire responsibility of the planning of the engine, and the result of their confidence has been in the highest degree satisfactory. Mr. Dodd, in his plan and specification, adopted none of the recent improvements, except that of the copper tubes, suggested by Mr. Booth, giving however a great additional strength to these tubes. The contract for making the engines was taken by Messrs. Murdoch and Aitken, Hill-street, Glasgow, and the committee are satisfied with their performance, except as to the time taken by them in furnishing the second engine. This is no small praise, considering they were the first locomotive engines constructed in Glasgow.

"The excellence of Mr. Dodds' plan and specification, so far as several months' trial can be considered a proof, is most satisfactory, as the engines have never been one day off work, except on two occasions, when injured by the malice or carelessness of certain waggoners on the road. On the other hand, the engines procured from England, by an adjoining railway company, (the Garnkirk,) have been repeatedly taken off the road, on account of needing repairs, &c. Since the date of this report, these engines have done all the trade to Kirkintilloch, and other places, for another year, and have not been off one day, or employed a single horse to assist them. These are facts, and the best criterion whereby to judge of their real performance, or to make comparison between them and other railway locomotive engines.

The cut on the following page is a view of this engine, with the tender attached. The connecting-rod between the two wheels has a ball and socket

VOL. II.

3 Y

joint at each end, making universal joints. The wheels have a play of about one inch, to allow for turning in the above curve. The cylinders are 10 inches

diameter each, and the stroke is 2 feet; pressure of steam, 50 lbs. The average speed of these locomotive engines, is now 6 miles per hour; the regulation is 5 miles per hour, but they sometimes even double the regulated speed.

"In February 1831," observes Mr. Gordon, "Mr. Gurney having completed three steam carriages for Sir Charles Dance, that gentleman commenced running one regularly on the road betwixt Gloucester and Cheltenham, and continued so to do, constantly and successfully, for four months, until he (disgusted with the opposition) withdrew his coaches." These steam carriages were employed as drags, to draw after them the passengers contained in a light carriage of the omnibus kind. One of these drags has been figured in a lithographic plate, by Mr. Gordon, of which the following cut is an outline; from this, it appears that the "indispensable" separators, are entirely dismissed. The proportions of this machine give it an elegant and a light appearance. Its weight, however, having been stated to be only two tons, it was brought to the test of a weighbridge at Cheltenham or Gloucester, and found to be three tons. This fact is of little importance, except as it affects calculations founded upon such erroneous data. The public mind has indeed been so abused by contradictory statements on this, as well as other points respecting these machines,

that it is scarcely possible to extract the truth. Before the Committee of the House of Commons in 1831, Mr. Gurney stated that his first carriages weighed

four tons each; but this fact did not prevent his "scientific friend," who had "scientifically investigated " it, from stating in the "Times" newspaper, that "the whole carriage and machinery weigh about 16 cwt., and with the full complement of water and coke from 20 to 22 cwt." Mr. Gurney further states in his evidence" The carriage which ran between Gloucester and Cheltenham weighs (by a letter from a magistrate, produced to the Committee,) nearly three tons; it ought to weigh only 45 cwt.; if it weighs three tons, there is extra weight, of which I know nothing. Those carriages at Gloucester were built principally under the superintendence of another person. I think it is possible to reduce the weight considerably as improvements go on." We must here make a brief digression, to state that we understand the three carriages were built and painted exactly alike, so that the public should not know how often they were changed; hence, we have recorded in print by our contemporaries, "a tabular view of 315 journeys performed by a steam carriage." The "another person," alluded to by Mr. Gurney, was that very able engineer, Mr., Stone, who was Mr. Gurney's foreman, and superintended all the products of his manufactory. As respects the matter of the weight, which Mr. Gurney thinks it possible to reduce, we will just place before the reader, the evidence of Mr. Wm. Crawshay, jun. on this point. In the "Cambrian" newspaper, and dated Cyfaithfa Iron Works, 18th March, 1830, this gentleman says to the editor of the "Cambrian :"

"Sir,-As I have reason to expect that a report will be sent to you of the arrival of Mr. Gurney's steam carriage at my father's works at Hirwain, and of the experiments made of its powers on a railroad there, I think it better to inform the public (now so much interested in the subject of steam conveyance) through your medium, of the actual facts that have been witnessed in the experiments made, and under what circumstances."

"Mr. Gurney, at my most earnest request, while I was in London three weeks since, consented to bring one of his steam carriages which had been built and adapted for drawing coaches on turnpike roads, to try her powers on our new railroad on Hir wain Common." Mr. Crawshay then proceeds to state that "he had considerable difficulty in persuading Mr. Gurney to accede to his wishes;" however, the latter gentleman at length consented to gratify the interested public; and the engine was sent from London to Cyfaithfa by horses, and

Thus

"weighed

there fitted with cast-iron wheels, and otherwise adapted to the railroad. prepared, “the engine, with water and fuel," Mr. Crawshay says, thirty cwt.!" so that if we admit Mr. Gurney's evidence, and Mr. Crawshay's "actual facts" to be both true, we must be prepared also to believe that the substitution of cast-iron wheels for wood, and the addition of the charges of water and fuel to a carriage previously weighing about 3 tons, must have been the cause of the extraordinary reduction of weight mentioned. After stating this "actual fact," Mr. Crawshay makes out a statement of the weight attached to the engine being 20 tons. 8 cwt. 2qrs. (the pounds and ounces are omitted.) Having "faithfully detailed" the particulars of this and other experiments of greater magnitude, this eminent iron-master states, that" in all the cases named Mr. Gurney's engine has drawn from 15 to 163 times its own weight."

Now, if we could exclude from our minds all idea of the foregoing phenomenon, and were, for argument's sake, to suppose that Mr. Gurney's evidence was on this point correct, does not the "actual fact" data become actually fictitious? and hence, are not the deductions actual farces? Perhaps Dr. Lardner or Mr. Alexander Gordon will help us out of the dilemma in which these accounts have placed us. We are anxious only that the unalloyed truth shall be told. (Note.-Mr. Gurney, upon being asked by the Committee of the House of Commons, "What is the greatest weight in proportion to its own weight, which any carriage draws on a railroad?" replied, "A carriage was originally supposed to draw only three times its own weight upon a railroad; but in some experiments which I made in Wales with Mr. Crawshay, of Cyfaithfa Castle, we found, in an experiment, that a carriage draws thirty times its own weight!")

The valuable testimony of Mr. Crawshay, just noticed, was so highly prized, that we find another was boastingly published in the following year, from the same gentleman, and addressed to Sir Charles Dance. It is dated, Cyfaithfa Iron Works, 23d February, 1832. We regret that our space will only allow us to give the following brief extract, which, however, relates to the main point :'As, however, facts of past performances of any kind are more satisfactory than anticipations of the future, I beg to state to you, that in the past twelve months, between the 1st day of January 1831 and the 1st day of January 1832, the locomotive engine which I bought of Mr. Gurney, weighing only thirty-five hundred-weight, including every thing whatever belonging to it, with water and fuel in a working state, conveyed 42,300 tons of coal, iron-stone, aud iron, exclusive of the carriages on which they were drawn, the distance of 2 miles upon our rail at Hirwain, in journeys of from 20 to 30 tons, as'suited our convenience; during which time the entire consumption of coal was 299 tons, which, at 3s. per ton, amounts to 441. 17s.; the wages of the engineer 52., and those of the boy 157. 12s. together, exclusive of the trifling repair of the engine, and the oil and other little matters required for its use, 1121. 9s., or less than one farthing per ton per mile, for the goods conveyed; and I must not omit to observe to that had there been nearly double the work to do on this road, the engine would have done it with little or no increased expense, as she was invariably working idle for the purpose of keeping the boiler full, about one half of her time."

240

To readers who do not calculate, this statement appears highly flattering; but a very little investigation will, we think, show it to be the reverse. Let us first look to the horse-power exerted by the engine: if we take the usual estimate of horse-power at 150l. constant force, at 2 miles per hour, and estimate the resistance of the Hirwain railway, which is upon a dead level, and has been formed since that of Manchester and Liverpool, at the same resistance as that on the latter, which is th of the insistent weight, we have 150 × 240 × 8 hours × 310 days = 89,280,000 lbs. 2240 = 39857 tons drawn by one horse in the year. If, however, we take the estimate of a horse's power, made by Mr. Bevan, (whose results are much more entitled to confidence than those of any other experimentalist, on account of the much more extended scale of his experiments,) we shall have 163 lbs. as our datum for a horse's power, (being the mean force exerted by each horse out of 144 at ploughing ;) and this increased estimate we find makes the number of tons drawn by one horse's power