The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-03 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

A series of trials was commenced on Tuesday in
Woolwich dockyard with Bray's traction engine, in
presence of the commodore-superintendent and the
officials of the yard. The engine is intended to su-
persede horse-labour for the ordinary work of the
yard. It was exhibited in the Great Exhibition,
where it was awarded two prize medals in classes 8
and 9 for practical utility. One of the boilers for the
Caledonia, weighing 28 tons, was placed on a truck
and attached to the engine, which drew it about the
yard with perfect ease. The engine then went to
the foundry, where a load, consisting of a plate
weighing 16 tons 15 cwt., was drawn by it to the
factory travelling crane, and here two other plates
were put on the truck, each weighing about 18 tons
bringing up the load to over 30 tons. With this
the engine went several times round the yard, turn-
ing the sharpest corners without any difficulty,
with only one driving wheel in gear. The engine
was then uncoupled and run up and down the yard
without any load being attached. The speed at-
tained was equal to 10 miles an hour. It was tried
over the rough paving, the soft ground, and trams,
and answered equally well on each. The day's pro-
ceedings terminated by conveying an old boiler,
weighing 22 tons, from the foundry yard to the old
iron yard. On the following day the engine com-
menced by taking a load of about 20 tons of loam-
plates from the foundry to the ironyard. It had to
take this load in and out and around the various
iron stacks in the yard. This it did without any
difficulty. It returned to the factory, and the sheer-
legs were fitted to the engine, when it lifted the
screw propeller of her Majesty's ship Racer, which
it took to and brought back from the weigh-bridge.
The weight was ascertained to be 2 tons 1 cwt. 2
qrs. It then steamed on to the armour plate shed,
and drove, by means of the drum fitted for trans-
mitting power, the hydraulic pumps used for work-
ing the press for bending the 4,1 inch armour-plates
for the Caledonia, some of which were bent to the re-
quired extent by the power transmitted by the en-
gine. Yesterday the experiments were continued,the
engine was tried as a steam fire-engine with equalsuc-
cess. The diameter of the cylinder is 7in. ; the
length of stroke, 10in.; the working pressure of the
steam, 1201 b. ; the gearing 21 slow speed and 71
quick speed; the weight of engine complete, with
fuel and water, is about 12 tons. It is fitted with
link motion and reversing gear, feed and tank (hot
and cold water) pumps, the latter being a double-
action Sin.-bore, worked direct from the piston
through the cylinder bottom ; Giffard's injector,
sheer-legs, and a barrel for hoisting, a drum for
driving machinery, a winch end for a fall rope or
tackle, &c. The wheels and steering gear and
general arrangement of the engine are on the com-
pany's patent principle, the steering being effected
by means of a worm working in the segmental
rack. The driving wheels have inner and outer
bearings, and the engine is mounted on innera d
outer springs on each side of the driving wheels,
ron g
while the fire carriage is also mounted
..v_na
Nv of
he the
best spring. The gearing is throughout
best malleable cast-iron, and the g ele
fat! s
are of wrought iron. The machinery is cased in by
the end is formed into
a light iron casing, atcarried about 12c
vet. of
bunkers, wherein can bo
fuel, while the tanks content about 400 gallons of
water. The engines
and all the machinery are at-
tached to a framing independent of the boiler,
which is of the horizontal tubular description,
made throughout of the best Lowmoor iron.
A commodious range of buildings is being erected
by Messrs. Naylor and Son, of Rochester, the con-
tractors to the War Department, consisting of a
library, reading-room, music and lecture-room,