American watchman and Delaware advertiser. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1822-1828, 1825-04-15

"A odd, ",
terruption to the carriage heels; for !, IN
or inches above the level of ,br se's'td
presents at the same time so acute a sn,, and |
hardly single grain oil sand can remain W.. 'nal
II has been considered great Undue men, r 7
the hat rails preference To the edge One. II 1--WE
sequence Of the suitabteness of their wh. :" con-
travelling either on the rails or upon commoa lor
Kept hard roads. In an account given of m. s @~
rey railway, which is 26 miles in lenoh !, our.
the ra-wheels are feet inches high. III. ,s, POO
or rims OF the wheels inches broad, and n..s'"
thick, with IL spokes; the sharp angles are ron,s
ed of, so that the wheels are capable of b.na
without damage on any common hard road s''u
great advantage attendi' the modern USE nj ro
acays' The axles Of the wheels are Fixed a, t'.
inches distance; the wagons are 2 lee, in,h.'
long, feet inches wide, and feet incbr, b;ah
and the weigh, oil the wagon is 81 :ons This rail-
way ISL dauofp one, and the inclination nowher. |
exceeds In 100, OF inch in 10 feet.
The difficulties presented to the draucb, !,
ascending steep places in roads are little, comnar.d
with the numerous distractions that are con,nu,Iu
lhterposed by small stones and gravel before n.
wheels, on even the best made roads. The drauoh,
IN The most level road yet made. may be said 10 h,
continual uphill Work Indeed, were il no, fl, |
the velocity acquired by carriage in motion. m,
DISTRACTIONS presented by an intervening stone If
small size would be altogether insurmountable. |,
IS not surprising that horse on rail,cau ,houl1
be able 10 draw so much more than on the best mad.
gravel road or causewsy. And as the very essenc,
OF the raataony principle is to present uniform
track to the wheels, unencumbered with obstuc.
lions OF any kind therefore the more these circum
stances are understood, the more general will BE- III.
desire 10 have railways extended in every quarter
In England and Wales the plate rails, with s,on.
mr. Louu Ia
ence has since shown that the edge rail POSSESSES
many advantages over The plate or fiat track and
malIeabe iron is coming every day into use oI edge
rails.
The usual mode Of laying railways is to place
the upper surface of the rails small distance above
the level OF the horse track. The consequence is
that the cresting or Stntng each side is connu.
ally coming in contact with the Wheels to the great
disadvantage OF the draught. AS these earthly
matters cannot be supposed OF the smallestuse for
keeping the rails in their places. is much better
10 lay the rails to be rhoiiy abore the ierel of
the horse trace. Such a construction gives add.
tlonal facilies for drainage; and may be termed
skeleton railcdy. from the whole structure being
exposed to view. This description Of railway has
been applied in practice with much advantage 10
several situations, particularly at Lord Elgin's ex
tensive coal and lime morks.
III WdSobo VII Ceot Hun IOduo nave hui Te-
celved the improvements of which they are capa.
BILE; but with their present disadvantages the fol.
lowing facts will evin,e the great saving OF animal
orce to which railways have given rise;
First, with decvny Of 1t inch per yard, one
horse takes downwards three wagons, each contain.
ng tons;
Secondly. with rise of l 6-iO of an inch per
yard. one horse can take Q tons upwards;
Thirdly, With fee, rise in &c yards, which is
8 10 OF an inch per yard, one horse takes tons
upwards;
Fourthty, on the Penrhyn railway, being the same
hope as above, two horses draw downwards fou7
wagons containing one ton of SLATE each
Fufhfy with slope OF SIS feet per mile, one
'orSe takes from IL to Is tons downwards, and 4
ons upwards, together With the empty wagons
SLcthty, at .3yr, one horse draws on levels
va ons, each containing one ton OF Goals;
Serenhly. on the Surrey railway, one horse on a
leclivlty OF one inch in 10 eet can draw 80 quar-
ers OF wheat.
In the present form Of the coal wagon, the whole
aiding operate, like ,cpdge to burst the sides oil
he wagon asunder, which has led TO an expensive
mode OF lining them with plate iron, wh b adds
considerably to the weight, increasing the burden IN
he same proportion. The form should be reyef'-
ID. making them broader at bottom than at The top.
i is not necessary that The difference should oe
great. A single inch would be sufficient to relieve
ne wagon from constant pressure upon Its sioe'
he wagon should not be made to contain more
han "a cwt; for the benefit TO be derived from
having the lating distributed in many wagons, ra
her than in a lew, is so great that the system al
eady introduced, oil having as many wagons Tor as
many tons, ought to be adhered to; for the ttshter
he ladng, the less pressure on the rails the less
ackang and wearing, both Of the rail and wagon
The wheels generally used are 81 inches in ola,
meter, and are formed wholly Of cast iron anu
'eigh ID cwt each of which, together with lhe'r
xies, weigh from to cwt. being nearly equs,,
the whole weight of the body of the wagon; aha
he whole weight, including the wheels and oody'
) more than one half of the load. The wheels