New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-09-14

Everybody knows al about the importance a..
beautiful condition Of the Railways, which =.
the iron veins through which the febood of -.
prosperity flows from the center 10 the extrsm,s..
tf the land. They form the real circul..in, .vs.~
Of our national life and their scurdness |. n,,ts-
which affects all Of Us By an inexorsb3s svm..t,,
Whatever tends to saving in the expsudt.r,s AZ
this benefcent machinery 10 Of common s,S
general interest It touches the shareholder !.
the enc hand and the man Of business sod a.
traveller for health or pleasure on the other, ~ n
tendency to reconcile profitable returns to n,
former class with the blessings Of cheap TIM.
portation to the latter. II was from this visv -
the matter that we drew the attention ef an
readers, a few weeks sinse, to the impeding N.
cessity Of change from wood to coal, a. u sssns
Of locomotive combustion. This il no longer
prospective necessity; tis already knocking Attn
doors. The steam engines are consuming the ~
forests in their fiery maws faster than the knlk
alchemies Of Nature can reproduce them from Ase
laboratory of the earth. Recourse must be hah
those vast magazines of boarded vegetation which
she has provided for an emergency like this, WITH
q forecast which took in millions Of years 10 ID
grasp.
We spoke in that article of the experiments
which had been made in Massachusetts,, on the
Lowell and Worcester Railway, with an old engine
on which had been superinduced the improvement
now owned, we believe, by the Franklin Locomotive
Company, combined with the hot air feed invented
BY Mr.. Jonathan Amory. These experiments were
sufficiently satisfactory in the opinion of the most
experienced Railway men, to induce the Providence
and the Fall River Companies to order an engine b
be built uniting these inventions in the best manner
We are happy to learn, from The Raacay T@ss
and from other authentic sources, that this engine,
which has now been at work for several weeks, has
answered fully the expectations which had been
formed Of it. Our readers may need to be reminded
that the popularity Of the first named invention
consists in tie conducting Of the gases generated
by the combustion of the coal through curved
bridges, BY which means what was formerly entirely
wasted by escape through the hues (" now CON-
PEELED greatly 10 increase the 6erceness OF the CON-
bustion-the fire thus literally making the meath
feeds on. Mr.. Amory's addition consists In the In.
PRODUCTION of air by of tubes from the front
through the boiler into the chamber where the
gases are consumed. This invention greatly pro-
notes the due consumption Of the gases and the
increase of the combustion, and makes the former
one vet more available for the uses Of coal burning
locomotives
The new engine, as We understand it, was built
on account of the two corporations we have Named
under the agreement that, after trial. it should b.
come the property of the highest bidder OF the two
II was first tried on the Plymouth Railway, end
was harnessed to the passenger train, which i
dragged in triumph at it, hcels. II so happened
that there was q change in the engineers employs
on the railway just at that time, 80 that the tna
took place under the disadvantage Of being mad
| by raw hands. But its result was most satsfss
| tory. The average consumption of unscneened
| Cumberland coal on each trip from Boston 70
! Plymouth and back again-75 miIes-wa $40
lbs. II was the belief of accurate observers that
this quantity was more than was necessary, had ID
the conditions been as favorable, and the men en-
poyed as experienced, as they may be made. But
this is very material saving upon the expense Of
wood for the same work. The result is affirmed
by persons who have anxiously watched the exper
ment to have bettered the prediction of that most
cautious of prophets, Mr.. Hall Of The Boston Daay
Adrertiser, that the saving Of fuel By the new e.
CINE would not be less than 62 per cent. The saw.
ing, as tested by the experiment, under all the de-
advantages of its novelty, is confidently declared
not to be less than 20 per cent over the old wood
furnaces. The engine, after completing the eIper.
ime mt with passengers on the Plymouth road, wss
transferred to the Fall River one, to try whist
would do with freight. There it has fully snleas'
isfactcrily performed its duty, drawing the usual
somewhat exceeding that Of the economies OF the
Plymouth division of the road.
But as to the competency of eoal-burspg loco
motives to transport freight trains to which high
rate Of speed is not important there has never
existed much if any doubt. The problem 10 b
solved was, whether the necessary amount Of heat
could be generated with the rapidly necessary for
the speed demanded for the conveyance of passeu.
gers. This seems to have been settled, 80 far -
these experiments have gone, in favor Of the coal
burners. 1t is not likely that the end Of this law
has been reached yet, or the greatest amount Of
speed extorted out Of the least quantity Of fuel; but
il, as seems to be established, equal amount Of
speed has been obtained from coal, at saving o.
20 per cent over wood, it is certainly very ca
couIagiDg approximation to the ideal Of railway
perfection. Perhaps some discoyerer yet to come
will have the goodness to give us the other 30 psr
cert, and fetch and carry u, for nothing at al!
We have no inteest in this or any other improve
pent upon the Old methods Of getting up the stea n.
hey old that uhich all persons must feel in the sste
cheap ard swift conveyance Of their persons and