The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-07 00:00:00

ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS

PETITION" OF JOSEPH D'AGUILAR SAMUDA AND

SAMUEL CLEGG.

The humble petition of Joseph D'Aguilar •Samuda and
Samuel Clegg, humbly showeth,
That your petitioners are the inventors and patentees of
the Atmospheric System of hallway.
That this system presents various advantages in regard to
speed, safety, comfort, and economy.
That a very high velocity, higher than any that is prac-
ticable under the common locomotive system, may be attained
by means of this power, the trains being at the same time
considerably lighter by the absence of an engine and tender.
That the tube being firmly fastened to the ground, and the
train linked to it by a strong iron plate, the chance of the
carriages running orf the road is greatly diminished, and
thereby the passage of the train round curves Is rendered
much safer, the connexion with the piston always tending to
counteract the centrifugal force.
That from the nature of this system, as it is impossible to
work both ways at the same time in one length of tube, it is
absolutely impossible that, two trains should ever meet, and
thus the danger of those collisions, of which there have been
so many fatal examples on locomotive railways, is, on the
Atmospheric Line, altogether removed.
That the comfort of passengers is greatly increased by the
absence of fire and smoke and the diminution of noise.

That danger and nuisance to the neighbourhood through
which the trains pass is by the same means greatly dimi-
nished.

That the mode of applying the power obtained by the
Atmospheric System, and the comparative lightness of the
trains, render it much easier to surmount steep acclivities,
and to pass round sharp curves, by means of,txhich, in the
construction of the line, the engineer is enabled to dispense
with advantageous gradients, and thereby greatly to diminish
the amount of earthwork, and generally to exercise a wider
discretion in the choosing of his ground, in order to avoid
local difficulties or accommodate local or public, interests .
That in cases of passing through a difficult country a con-
siderable saving of expense will result from the adoption of
the Atmospheric System in the construction and furnishing
of a railway ready for working ; and that in no case, however
easy the country, will an excess of cost for the construction
and furnishing be required.
That in the working of the Atmospheric System there is a
great saving of expense in all cases, both in regard to the
consumption of fuel, and more especially in the renewing and
repairing of engines and other apparatus, inasmuch as
stationary engines are far more durable, and require much
less repairing, than locomotive, and the wear and tear upon
the rails is greatly reduced by the absence of the engine and
tender.
That this system is peculiarly adapted to the working of
a line with frequent trains, as the power can, at a compara-
tively cheap rate, be kept constantly ready for action, and a
very large number of people may thus be conveyed at short
intervals at low fares.

That the use of the electric telegraph, to which so much
importance has justly been attached, is a necessary appen-
dage to the economical working of the Atmospheric System,
where it is desirable to have the means of rapidly communi-
cating from station to station, and that the Government may
therefore more readily have the benefit of such communica-
tion under this than under any other system.
That the above line has, by the consent of your petitioners,
been adopted upon the Kingstown and Dalkey Line of Rail-
way in Ireland, where it has been worked with regularity and
perfect success for the last eighteen months.
That measures are now in contemplation by the proprietors
of that railway for extending their line from Dalkey to Bray.
That a Bill was obtained in the last session of Parliament
for making an Atmospheric Railway from Croydon to Epsom ;
and another enabling the London and Croydon Railway Com-
pany to make an independent Atmospheric Line from Lon-
don to Croydon.
That various schemes have been promoted by the London
and Croydon, and other Railway Companies, for making lines
of railway upon the Atmospheric System, some of which are
now before your Hononrable House; and you/ petitioners
humbly conceive that it would be good for the public in-
terest, as well as a source of profit to your petitioners, that
such schemes should receive the sanction of Parliament.
That your petitioners humbly conceive that they, as
patentees of the Atmospheric System of Railway, have been
and are greatly prejudiced by a report new lying before your
Honourable House, entitled, " Report of the Railway De-
partment of the Board of Trade on the Kentish and South-
Eastern Railway Schemes," wherein is made, among other
things, the statement following :
"'The question is further narrowed by the exclusion of the
line proposed by the Croydon Company, London, Chatham,
and Chilliest', 142, which, from the nature of its gradi-
ents, is incapable of sustaining a serious competition with
either of the other schemes.
" The gradients are more severe than have ever been pro-
posed for a locomotive line, 28 planes, extending over more
than fifteen miles of the first thirty, being at an inclination
of one in fifty.
" In their subsequent projects, which are now under COR•
sideration, the Croydon Company equally adopt the Atmos-
pheric System of.propulsion. If that system had already
been applied successfully upon auy long line of railway, the
severity of the gradients in these projected lines would not
have been considered so objectionable. It is clearly however
impossible for us to assume the success of a system as to
which much difference of opinion exists among railway en-
gineers, and which has not hitherto afforded such proof of
its merits as could warrant us in giving the preference to
projected undertakings, the success of which meet depend
upon results as yet uncertain, while other projects are offered
to which no such uncertainty applies."
That your petitioners humbly conceive, and are prepared
and willing to prove, that the above quoted statement is in-
correct and calculated to mislead your Honourable House.
That the Atmospheric System, as invented by y-our peti-
tioners, and used and applied upon the line of railway from
Kingstown to Dalkey, has already given abundant proofs of
its merits, and such as to recommend any projected railway
whereon it is proposed to adopt that system to the favourable
consideration of your Honourable House.
That, although the Dalkey line is only one mile and three
quarter's in length, yet the working thereof exhibits every
result which it would be desirable to obtain upon a longer
line; and that an investigation of what has there been ac-
complished will result in the conclusion that every extension
of distance merely involves a repetition of the fixed power,
and consequently a repetition (not an extension) of the effect
produced, and in no way involves any further experiment
or difficulty beyond that at present successfully accomplished.
That your petitioners were proposed and offered to Provo
this fact by evidence before the Board by whom the said re-
port has been presented to your Honourable House : but the
Board did not avail itself of such offer.
That, with respect to the opinion of railway engineers,
your petitioners humbly submit and represent that the en-
gineers who have given opinions adverse to the Atmospheric
System have all been concerned in the invention, or improve-
ment, or working, of the common locomotive system ; that
some of them are the makers of locomotive engines, and all
of them more or less interested in the prosperity and continu-
ance of the present system.
That, nevertheless, there are some engineers of large exs
perience in the management of locomotive lines of railway
whose opinions are favourable to the adoption of the Ate
mospheric System as invented and applied by your pes
titioners, but who are wholly unconnected with your
petitioners, or with their patent or the profits thereof, and
who have no interest whatever in the success of the Atmo-
spheric System beyond that which they feel as scientific men
in the progress of improvement.
That the opinion of these last-mentioned persons, being
free from all suspicion of bias or partiality, is entitled to the
greatest weight with your Honourable House, and that your
petitioners have not had the opportunity of producing the
evidence of such persons before the Board of Trade.
That the opinion in favour of the Atmospheric System is
strengthened by the testimony of all the eminent engineers
who have been deputed by the foreign Governments to in-
vestigate its merits, and whose testimony is the more va-
luable as they may fairly be considered entirely free from
any preconceived bias.
That there are numerous Bills now pending before your
Honourable House, for making branches from, or extensions
of, the main trunk railways now existing, whirl it is pro-
posed to work upon the common locomotive system.
That great efforts are making by the promoters of such
railways to suppress and defeat the progress of tie Atmos-
pheric System, and that, if they should succeed in further
establishing their monopoly of railway communication, the
general adoption of the Atmospheric System is likely to lac,
postponed to an indefinite period.
That it is desirable for the sake of public interest that the
merits of the Atmospheric System should receive a full and
searching investigation before your Honourable House is
called upon to decide upon the numerous railway Bills
which are now pending, the more especially as the Board of
Trade, by the rejection of lines by reason of the inferiority
of their gsradients, in effect condemns the Atmospheric
System altogether, inasmuch as, one of the seam ad-
vantages sought by its adoption being the power of sur-
mounting gradients and using curves unsuited to a locomo-
tive line, no engineer, In laying out an Atmospheric Line,
would incur the expense of obtaining gradients and curves
as good as are required on a locomotive line, and that conse-
quently if where the choice lies between two lines intended
p to be constructed on these opposite principles, the preference
is to be given to that which has what are usually termed the
best gradients, the Atmospheric System must in all cases be
rejected.
Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that a Committee
be appointed by your Honourable House to inquire into the
merits of the Atmospheric System of Railway, and to hear
the evidence of engineers and other persons upon the subject,
and that your petitioners be allowed to attend before such
Committee, and to be heard by counsel, or otherwise, as your
Honourable House shall direct —And your petitioners will
ever pray, &c.

SAMUEL CLEGG,
JOSEPHA SAMUDA.