The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-03-22 00:00:00

ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAY

Mr. Pim's important letter fo the Earl of Ripon, praying
an investigation into the system of atmospheric locomotion
on railways, has had the effect of producing a very interesting
report on the subject, which has just been presented to both
Houses of Parliament by the noble President of the Board of
Trade, and which we lose no time in laying before our readers.
The prayer of Mr. Pim's letter, to which we owe this im-
portant investigation, was couched in the following terms :
" May I, therefore, beg your lordship, in your official ca-
pacity as President of her Majesty's Board of Trade and
Plantations, to submit this letter to your right honourable
board, accompanied by my respectful but earnest request,
that they may be pleased to refer it to such persons as their
lordships may select, to inquire into the several statements
herein contained, and to report to your lordships fully thereon,
and particularly, whether this invention is entitled to a fur-
ther and more extended trial, under suitable superintendence;
and that your lordships may also make such other and fur-
ther orders in the premises, as the important interest here-
with condected may appear to your lordships to demand."

In order, therefore; clearly to follow the report of Sir
Frederick Smith and Professor Barlow, to whom the conduct
of this inquiry was entrusted, we must shortly recapitulate
the statements of Mr. Pim's letter, and for this purpose our
own original summary of its contents will probably suffice :
" We have here all the conditions required for avoiding the
various inconveniences to which the present system is sub;
ject. We have, first, a moving power which loses no part of
its efficiency in consequence of pulling up-hill; and which,
therefore, will admit of such inclines as at present no engineer
would think of surmounting, and so in the very first step save
an outlay-of at least sixty per cent. in the primary construc-
tion of the works. Next, we have a power which works, pro
tempore, only in one direction, hod so precludes collision.
It holds the carriages down to the railway itself while it
moves them along, and thus prevents any chance of their
slipping off the rail. It has no travelling furnace, and so no
risk of explosion. It gets rid of the enormous cost in wear
and tear of moving its own weighty machinery backward and
forward at every trip. Occupying a pipe on the bed of the
road, it requires bridges and tunnels only large enough to
admit the carriages ; it works with ordinary fuel, and saves
the immense expense of making coke ; and, finally, it is capa-
ble of attaining a much greater velocity than can at present
be attemped.'—Dublin Evening Mail, Dec. 24.
Any one who will take the trouble of referring to the ob-
servations which we offered on this subject on the above date,
and on the succeeding 27th, will perceive that, in the condi-
tion which we have stated first in our category—namely, the
fact of the proposed moving power " losing no part of its effi-
ciency in consequence of pulling up-hill"—lies the founda-
tion of most of those alleged advantages, in point of cheap-
ness of construction, for which the advocates of the atmos-
pheric system contend; for it is expressly in conseqiience of
that loss of power in pulling up-hill under the present sys-
tem, that our engineers are forced to cut so deep and to em-
bank so high, in order that the locomotive may have as little
up-hill as possible to contend with.
Now, the report expressly admits the two material facts—
first, that this loss of power does affect the locomotive; and,
secondly, that this loss of power does not affect the atmos-
pheric system :
" That a great part of the power of a heavy locomotive
engine is expended in overcoming its own gravity and re-
sistance in ascending steep planes, is certainly true; and it
is equally true, that on the atmospheric principle the whole
additional force is exerted on the load itself"
This granted, we would have concluded that the consequent
and, as it seems to us, inseparable advantages which we have
enumerated in our summary, would have been conceded as a
matter of course • but this the report seems to question very
much ; for, immediately after conceding the first proposition,
it goes on to say :
" This is, unquestionably, an advantage, but still we think
its importance has been greatly overrated.
. "The patentees propose to work steep inclines by means
of larger tubes, but this would involve the "necessity of stop-
ping the train at the foot.of such planes, and of having.again
to overcome the inertia of the load, in both instances causing
loss of time."

Certainly, stopping the train at the foot of every incline
would be a very bungling proceeding ; but we see no neces-
sity for concluding that such is the proposal of the patentees
frOm anything contained in Mr. Pim's letter, and certainly
no necessity whatever for so stupid a proceeding need exist
in practice ; so that, as this is really the only one of the al-
leged advantages flowing directly from the first conceded
principle that has been at all called in question in this re-
port, we must conclude that the allegations of Mr. Pim's
letter, in respect of cheapness of construction consequent on
the principle alluded to, stand admitted.
Next, as a consequence of having got rid of a heavy Iced-
motive, the patentees'allege that they have got rid of the ne-
cessity of employing rails so weighty and expensive as those
now in use. The report, in a very singular manner, admits
and denies, and re-admits this all in a breath :

_ .
" It is said that, having got rid of the heavy locomotive en-
gine, the rails will admit of a very considerable reduction in
weight. We believe that the atmospheric principle will be
found to present no such great advantage, for the heavy rails
which, in the progress of the railway system, have been in-
troduced into use, have not been adopted solely for the pur-
pose of strength, hut also for the sake of the firm and steady
bearing they afford, and the consequent easiness of motion
and correspondent diminution in the wear and tear of the
engine and carriages."
[This is curious reasoning ; in the propoSed system there
is to be no engine.]
•` Mr. Samuda claims a reduction of thi4 amount in con-
sequence of the diminished weight of rails which he pro-
poses to use, but we cannot concur with him in thinking that
the rail can be reduced with safety from .731bs. to 301bs. per
yard. We are ready, however, to admit that it may be re-
duced to 561b5."
Really these objections seem to be of little, if any weight ;
and we can only attribute them to the cautiousness natural
to men dealing for the first time with an untried subject.
The remainder of the report exhibits ability and candour.
It corroborates the allegation of Mr. Pim's letter as to the
almost perfect safely of the system, and suggests a very use-
ful addition to the apparatus, which would wake it perfectly
and absolutely safe.—Dublin Evening Mail.