The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-10 00:00:00

e'LERKENWELL.

AN ACTRESS IN TROUBLE.—A dissipated-looking
woman, attired in widow's weeds, who gave her name
Prynn:but who was recognised as having formerly been
an actress of some note in the metropolitan theatres as
Miss Healey, was charged with being drunk. The pri-
sonar's looks denoted aberration of intellect. It appeared
that, on the preceding evening, she knocked at the sta-
tion-house door, in Bag,nigge IVells-road, and demanded
to be locked up. She was drunk at the time, and refus-
ing to leave the place, her wish was gratified.
The prisoner, who was exceedingly dejected, in a
theatrical tone and manner denied the charge of
drunkenness, and said her fair fame" had been attainted.
She had been turned out of her lodging for arrears of
rent, and having nothing but the " canopy of heaven" to
shelter her, she sought refuge at the station-house and
begged of them to lock her up for the night. This was
the " head and front of her offending.
Mr. GREENWOOD ordered her landlady to be sent for,
when her story being found to be " most true," she was
discharged by Mr. Greenwood, who expressed his belief
that her senses were scattered, and told her that if she
was brotsght there again the probability was that the
overseers of the parish would be consulted upon the ne-
cessity of sending her to a lunatic asylum.

ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS.
INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS, JUNE 4.
The applicability of the propulsion of railway carriages by
the pressure of the atmosphere upon a
piston travelling within
an exhausted main, or line of pipes, has occupied a portion
of three evening meetings of the Society, and although much
time has been devoted to the discussion, it cannot be said that
any positive conclusion has been arrived at. Indeed, when it
is considered that the system has only been tried upon a line
in its locality, in its steep gradients, in the engine having only
to exert power in drawing the carriages in one direction, and
their descending by their own gravity, and in the trains
being only required to run a distance of a mile and three-
quarters trom end to end of the line, without stopping at any
intermediate station, it may be argued,
that although, as is
evident from the testimony of the several speakers, extraor-
dinary results have been obtained, it is scarcely possible to
infer what the results would be on lines with gradients in both
directions, with a great number of heavy trains at short
intervals, and under all the various circumstances of ordinary
railway traffic. It appeared, however, to be the general
opinion that the present system of atmospheric propulsion, as
employed on the Kingstown and Dalkey Railway, although
susceptible of much improvement, was in a more advanced
state than the system of traction by locomotive engines at
corresponding periods from the date of the introduction of the
several systems upon railways.
Messrs. CLEGG and SASIUDA, the improvers and executors
of the present atmospheric system, detailed the progress of
the improvements, and in answer to questions from the
members, reiterated the information which has been
already published in the various reports of the examinations
before the Committee of the House of Commons on the Ep-
som Railway Bill, and which it is useless now to repeat.
The various previous plans of Medhurst, Valiance, and
Pinkuss for somewhat similar systems were explained, and
it was shown that the system had been taken up by Clegg
and Samuda where the former speculators had abandoned

it, and, as usual in such cases, the practical improver had
been more successful than the inventors. The principal im- 1
provement was shown to be in the continuous valve, and the
mode of closing it by a mixture of tallow and bees'-wax,
which, under all variations of temperature and seasons, re-
mained unchanged, and enabled a good vacuum to be formed.
Many other improvements in the mechanical details were also
described at length.

Mr. B. Gxantis, as engineer of the line, stated his satis-
faction with the manner in which it worked. 35 trains per
day had at times been conveyed without danger, and with
great regularity; the train was enabled to be started one
minute after the engine commenced working to form a
vacuum.

Mr. SAMUDA detailed the progressive trials of the system
at Wormwood Scrubs during two years and a half, until it
was laid down at Dalkey, where a load of 50 tons had been
propelled up gradients averaging 1 in 115, and a maximum
velocity of nearly 50 miles per hour had been obtained, with
an engine which was stated to be 100-horse power, using as
a divisor 66,0001b5. raised one foot high in a minute. This
deviation from the ordinary calculation of Bolton and Watt,
who used 33,0001b5., was justified on the plea, that steam-en-
gines were now made in such a superior manner, that their
effective power nearly doubled their nominal power, and that
the usual acceptation of the term "horse power" was no longer
to be relied upon.
This position was combated by several members, who ar-
gued that the commercial question should not be mixed up
with the scientific inquiry ; and that for the latter purpose,
the accepted divisor of 33,0001b5., as fixed by Bolton and Watt
for the horse power, should have been used, when the power
exerted would have appeared nearly double what had been
quoted, and materially affect the question of the cost of first
laying down a railway and the expense of its subsequent
working. In considering the comparative questions of trac-
tion by locomotive engines, by fixed engines with ropes, and
propulsion by the atmosphere, it was argued that in the two
former cases the weight of the moving power must be carried
along the rails at a corresponding cost and loss of power, added
to which was the loss resulting from the slip of the driving
wheels in the one case, and the friction of the rope against
the pullies in the other case ; the destruction to the rails
resulting from the beat of the driving wheels being put out
of the question. Against this it was argued, that with the
atmospheric system the whole power of the engine must be
used, whether for heavy or light trains; that a power capable
of pumping out the leakage, stated at ten-horse power per
mile, must be always provided, although it was only exerted
for a part of the length of each section ; and that the real
power employed at Dalkey, if calculated by the usual stan-
dard of Bolton and Watt, was shown by indicator diagrams
to be nearly double what had been stated, and that conse-
quently a greater outlay for power was required than was
imagined. The additional securitiy in traversing the
rapid curves of the railway at high speed appeared to
be admitted. A curious circumstance was mentioned
which deserved more attention—it was, that the tempe-
rature of the air on leaving the exhausting air pump
was increased to upwards of two hundred de-
grees ; and that there was a certain absorption of power
consequent upon this increase of temperature. Our limits
will not permit the whole even of the heads of the discus-
sion to be detailed, and although much tinl9 has been de-
voted to it, the question was not fully exanimed, nor were
all the necessary data clearly stated, so that for all practical
purposes, we shall only arrive at the comparative value of
the new system after it has been applied to such a line as
the Epsom, where, under the scrutinising care of Mr. Cubitt,
the engineer of the line, there is no doubt of its merits being
fairly tested : meantime the question remains open, and, as
before, to be discussed as the interest or prejudices of parties
may dictate.