The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-06 00:00:00

nth w:

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1850.

Yesterday witnrs►ed the completion of one of those
great works of human ingenuity which attest in im-
perishable characters the glory of science and the
grandeur of civilization. Silence upon an occasion
like this would ill hefitia jJurnalist, whose peculiar
province it is to be the annalist of contemporary
occurrences, and the commemorater of every con-
temporary achievement. Happil:-, for ourselves, we
have any thirg but reluctance to add our expres-
sions of panegyric to those which resound from all
parts of the United Kingdom in reference to that
great effort of engineering skill which has given to
immortality the name of ROBERT STEPHENSON.
Among those who have already Evinced an appre-
ciation of the genius of this remarkable man, we well
remember that the delightful author of " Bubbles
froM the' Brunnen of Nassau," has good reason to be
enumerated ; for it has not yet passed our re-
collection how he has pencilled, with graphic
exactitude, the physical and intellectual toil re-
quired in the fabrication of the gigantic tubular
bridge suspended across the Menai Straits, within

view of the celebrated suspension bridge constructed

through the contrivance of TELFORD. After re-
counting the elevation of the first of the four enor-
mous cylinders to its place of destination, the distin-
guished contributor to the Qqarterly tells us of his
observing the engineer on the fullowing morning,
alone, in the open air, quietly enjoying a cigar, and
contemplating the result of so many weary days and
nights, the effect of so many arduous labours and
profound calculations. Since then others of the re-

roaming tubes have not merely been floated into their
proper positions and secured in the grooves prepared
for their reception, but the first attempt at crossing
the channel through them has been actually made,
and made too with a success the most com-
plete and triumphant. For the purpose of
properly testing the strength and general
capacity of the whole structure a variety of experi-
ments were yesterday made, under the direction of
Mr. STEPHENSON himself, assisted by several of his
most eminent contemporaries, men peculiarly inte-
rested in the triumph of his magnificent enterprise.
Than these experiments nothing could by possibility
have been more entirely satisfactory . Dead weightsgra-
dually increased to an enormous magnitude, weights
in motion, and weights of a stationary character, were
successively introduced into the cylinders, and all of
them, not only without any perceptible deflection, but
without even, in most instances, the slightest appa-
rent vibration. At day break the " Cambria," steam-
engine, driven by ROBERT STEPHENSON himself, and
followed by two others equally powerful, the " St.
Mona" and the "Pegasus," the three locomotives
harnessed together weighing altogether about ninety
tons, entered the " vast iron corridor," and were
" propelled at a slow
,and stately Pace" to the
opposite extremity. Silo& quently another convoy,
eonsisting of two dozen waggons heavily laden With
Brymbo coal-blocks, and weighing, inclusive of the
steam-engines, no less than three hundred tons in the
aggregate, proceeded "deliberately ' through the
orifice—emerging at the other end of the tube
in the midst of "loud acclamations, fol-
lowed at intervals by the rattle of artillery.''
Again, a still bolder experiment was attempted, and
we need scarcely say with a result capable of in-
spiring the fullest amount of satisfaction. A train of
two hundred tons of coal was permitted to repose
with its full weighf, for two hours, in the centre of
the Carrnurthaenshire tube, and on its ultimate re-
moval, it was found to have produced a deflection of
merely four-tenths of an inch, an amount of deflection
equivalent to that caused by half-an-hour's sunshine !
Here we must refer to an interesting incident re
corded by the reporter who was present on the occa-
aion, and who alludes to it as follows :
" During the trial of the dead weights a very inte-
resting episodieal proceeding took place in the interior
re 'And tube—that of puttinr, 9.e
of the Carnarvunsn
last _ rivet int ) 1.0 making exactly ° the
2,000,000 th that have been used. The rivet
having
been put in by
Mr. Mare, was driven borne and fas-
tentil by Mr. Stephenson with successive strokes with
a huge hammer. Thfi ceremony was f dlowed by the
waving of hats and the deafening acclamations of the
work-people."
About mid-day the last and most noticeable of all
the different experiments was adventured upon ; the
testing train employed on this conclusive occasion
being thus described by an eye-witness :
"It consisted of the three engines, the 200 tons of
coal, and from thirty to forty railway carriages, con-
taining between 600 and passengers7oo. packed together
ae cIQ"IY
63
figs La
a basket, Wi so clamorous and