The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-31 00:00:00

Jbs
A little pflrepttiA...t, with 117--1 le
711 e some t
of Con ltructiervations on theßailways,
Imperfection of tile: Preseht SYs'enl
,
with an Account of the rnlV.Metitod of Con. ltre invented
0 under ow •in Itice. It is ob-
viously by Mr. Kollmann," has just .C 111" Llenable know-
ledge of the subject, and enters
viously written by some person;
Who has col taic `
into it wid It has a
I. and ,Pla -ports to be a
second title of " Railway Papers, N „
itnovt p :etendin,g• to
reprint from the " Monthly Times.' fMr. Kc ,llmann's in-
offer an opinion as to the practica.!tility
Zee an, I theoretical
vention, for which we want both e:.nert 'ats of them before
knowledge, we shall place the prineipa.' Pei 0; :—
our readers, and leave them to form their ownte Leffcted are
" The means by which these improvements a‘
,w
sus_
as follows :—The centre of gravity is h'°llgnt I of a bent
pendia.' at
the carriage between the wheels .'Y me,
proceeds
axle. 'The acknowledged weakness of
.a bent axle. ower of
from this, that the pressure of the wheels acts with a I sure is
leverage upon the point of resistance,—that the Pm effee
applied at the crown, as it were, of half an atal.l, and the
rch
of such an arrangement is palpable, but—coniplete the a
and let proper supports act the part of piers, and what font !ct
strong ? This is the arrangement that Mr. Kollmann
effected, and with wheels of a diameter limited only by
convenience and the centre of gravity below the plane of
tare
axles, the oscillation of the old system is all but annihilated,
and the friction of the axles reduced in the propc.rtion of the
increase of the diameter of the wheels, and of the• decrease of
the diameter of the axles. The guidance is efFetated by the
rolling of horizontal wheels plaCed immediately inadea• the car-
riage and acting against a centre rall (one on each side of it):
the periphery of these wheels—and, be it observe 'l, of all the
wheels of the system, except the driving wheels of the engine
—being-, not c7lindere with a bearing surf two and a
half inches, but portions of a sphere, so that tf,v point of con-
tact is the least conceivable, and its smallness w.'ll ee limited
only by the exactness of workmanship, or by the weeAt'r which
too small a space of contact might be founcl to occasion. With
respect to the superior safety, it will readily be seen, that,. if
the centre rail project about four or five ine;:e.s aii.ove the
plane of the horizontal wheels, this point is effectual:l v sceentred :
the imagination of the most fanciful of our readers
hardly
picture to them a carriage making a vertical angle ,I.(e-ge
enough to surmount such an obstacle to its most erratic
pensities. Another and very material part of Mr. Xosi..''•
mann's invention relates to the rigidity of the whole system,
and the equal motion of the wheels, whose effects we have
before sketched. The wheels, as must have been seen from
the description of their axles, run each independently of the
other; neither is, therefore, forced round a curve with the
rubbing friction, we have previously censured ; and in place of
the axles maintaining a parallel direction, they can make what-
ever angle the curvature of the road may require. A neces-
sary consequence of this perfect flexibility is, that they readi-
ly- yield to the direction of the centre rail, without experienc-
ing and communicating to the other parts of the system the
shock we have noticed to proceed from the present plan of
construction. The leading and important consequence of this
—and one to which we wish particularly to direct the atten-
tion of railway proprietors, who can perceive that if the same
engine can drew 50 tons, it is better, and better, as experi-
ment has shown, in a greater ratio than 37 : 13, that 37 tons
should be passengers and goods and the rest dead weight,
than that 13 tons only should pay, and the remaining 37 tons
be necessary for the means of transport—is, that the causes of
the extreme strength and weight of parts are now annihilated ;
and, returning to te comparison of the weight and strength
of an ordinary stage-coach and of a railway carriage, we are
now at liberty to assert, that we shall receive the full benefit
of the smoother surfaces on which we run. y * *

" There are some other points in Mr. Kollmann's loco-
motive engine which demand the reader's attention. The
same flexibility prevails as in the passenger carriage, but the
driving wheels may have any breadth of bearing surface that
may be deemed advisable, from their not running on edge rails
the width of which cannot be advantageously increased ; they
have thus a greater adhesiveness, and as the same number of
passengers and weight of goods are conveyed by a far lighter
train and with less friction, they will, as is self-evident, ascend
an inclination, which would be excluded from one of our pre-
sent lines or worked with an assistant or a stationary engine.
But they possess, by means of a most simple and admirable
contrivance, a yet greater power of ascending acclivities.
Power and velocity are in an inverse ratio, the one to the other.
If in the same machine velocity is increased, power is proportion-
ally:diminished, and vice versa. la ascending a hill if some portion
of the velocity of the driving wheels—supposing always the same
motion of the crank and piston rod, regulated by the length
of their radii—can be given up and a weel of a smaller dia-
meter substituted, just so much as the diameter of one is
shorter than that of the other will the velocity ho decreased
arid the power increased; but this increase of power would
not enough avail unless a greater degree of adhesion between
the wheel and the rail were also obtained,—both these re-
quisites are thus effected in Mr. Kollmann's engine :—Con-
centric with the large driving wheel, and immoveably fixed to
it, is another of as much smaller diameter as the ascents in the
line of road may render necessary, the tire of which is rough-
ened, to give it the necessary hold on the surface of the rail,
which is elevated at the commencement and for the whole
length of the acclivity, so as for the smaller wheel to act upon
it, being also just sufficiently elevated to raise the larger wheel
from the line of rail on which it previously acted. The other
improvements which Mr. Kollmann bas introduced into the
construction of the engine arc of an order that the engine-man
will more fully appreciate than the general reader."
We shall only add, that if half what Mr. Kollmann promises
be performed, we shall have another proof that many improve-
ments will certainly be made in railways, and that the art of
laying them down, and constructing locomotive engines, is yet
in its infancy.

RAILROAD CARRIAGES.

RESISTANCE OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

Dr. Wilkinson, of Bath, observes, that " in afluid-medium,
where particles yield easily, as air, the resistance is as the
density of the medium, and as this resistance is measured by
the quantum of air striking the plane in a given time, it will
necessarily be in the duplicate ratio of the velocity, and when-
ever this resisting force is equal to the momentum of a body,
the result makes the maximum of velocity. With respect to
bodies falling through a fluid or a medium such as the atmos-
phere, by gravitation, the increase of velocity proceeds in arith-
metical progression, whilst resistance of the medium increases
in a geometrical or duplicate ratio; and when the gravitating
velocity is balanced by the resistance of the atmosphere, then
no subsequent augmentation takes place. As the resistance is
a diminution of the momentum of a falling body, and as mo-
mentum is velocity multiplied by the quantity of matter, in
these calculations the specific gravity of the substance or body
in motion must be ascertained. Thus a ball of lead, one inch
in diameter, falling from a elevation of 1,000 yards above the
surface of the earth, would never acquire a velocity exceeding
260 feet per second, or if dropped into water, its greatest ve-
locity would not exceed 81feet in the same time. When velo-
city is doubled, the resistance must also be doubled, from that
proportion of the number of particles of the medium being re-
moved, and the moving power, acting with a double force
against these particles, renders the resistance 4 times; or the
square of 2—viz., the square of the velocity. With respect to
a carriage moving at the rate of 40 miles per hour, equal to
48.6 feet per second, in this case the resistance is to be mea-
sured by the surface exposed. Newton has demonstrated that
the force of any fluid medium, as water or air, is equal to the
area of that surface multiplied by the height ascertained by the
space any heavy body falls by gravitation to acquire that velo-
city. In the case above stated the velocity is 48.6 feet per
second : by the Newtonian rule, it appears that a body must
fall through 36.3 feet to acquire this velocity; therefore the
resistance will be on every square foot exposed to the resisting
power, equal to a square column of air whose base is 1 foot,
and height 36 5. As one cubic foot of atmospheric air at the
I medium barometric pressure weighs 5651 grains, the pressure
on every square foot of surface of the carriage will be 2.67, or
nca'dy 21b. 1 Opz. avoirdupois. From this great velocity it
appears that the objections made as to atmospheric resistance
advanced by the engineers, in opposition to Mr. Brunel, can-
not be admitted ; and particularly when we reflect on
aeronauts who, in another current of air not obstructed
by any such irregularities as on the earth's surface, sail
with the utmost tranquillity 70 or 80 miles per hour.
The carrying pigeon, to my knowledge, has carried a
letter from Doncaster to Harrow, in 2i hours, or more than
60 miles an hour ; from some circumstances lately stated,
fishes move with an equal velocity through such a resisting
medium as water ! and even the ocean is determined by the
influence of tides with a far superior speed."

WEST LONDON GARDENERS'

ASSOCIATION.

Last week the members of this useful society, com-
posed of Noblemen and Gentlemen's Gardners, Florists, and
seed-merchants, in the neighbourhood of London, along with
a select number of their friends, held their second anniversary
dinner in the Suspension Bridge Tavern (kept by Mr. Bac-
chus), in Hammersmith. M. H. A, FitsStratitern, Esq.,
one of the members and honorary secretary, was unanimously
called to the chair, supported on his right by Mr. Russell,
chief secretary; J. Browne. Esq., president of the Turnham-
green Club; and Messrs. How and Hill; and on his left by
Humphrey Gibbs, Esq., secretary to the Smithfield Horticul-
tural Society, and seedaman to the King •f Sweden ; Mr.
Caie, gardener to his Grace the Duke of Bedford; and J.
Kernan, Esq., florist and merchant, Covent garden. The
Vice- President's chair was filled by Mr. Temple, who was
ably supported by J. Kean, Esq., seed-merchant, and Mr.
Croucher, gardener to his Grace the Duke of Sutherland. On
the cloth being removed, the usual loyal and national toasts
were given with great applause, viz., the Queen, the Duchess
of Kent and Strathern, the Duke of Sussex, and the rest of
the Royal Family; and, Both Sides of the Tweed. Mr.
Fitz Strathern then craved a flowing bumper, and, amidst
great cheering, proposed " The long and prosperous existence
of the West London Gardeners' Association," which was drunk
with enthusiasm, Mr. Russell, the secretary, gave an interesting