Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1858-08-28

fully matured In tnls country, tua' % 49,
reality Of great deal more Importance TO
the interests of the Uni,cd States, than the
successful laying of the Atlantic Cable. We
refer to the use of steam on Canals. we
COPY some remarks of the Buffalo, n. ~ pa
pers referring u II:
"The successful trip Of the Steam Canal
Boat from this city to Albany, has excited
the public attention, and exercised no small
iniiuencs III renewing the interest lett py tGo
people at large in the Enlargement. Ii l'
evident that the Wsck is net an entire fi-
umpb, that there are faults OF detail which
REQUIRE suudry changes and notifications;
bat the broad fact is no less true that the
era of steam canal navigation has begun
George S.ephenson's "Puf6ng Billy" Oh the
Killingworth Trsmway, was not tue locomo-
tive of modern days, but 1t was the almost
immtd date predecessor Of the Rocket
which secured the triumph Of land steam To-
comotion On the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway. 10 all new enterprises OF tbs
sort, there a:e difficulties Of adaptation AID
msauprehensions as 10 what Is possible. n
parallel might be- run between the Erio "a
| nal aud the Liverpool and Manchester Kali
gay. Both were butt for horsc-towlng-
the use OF steam not being contemplated, ex-
cept as a remote possibility. The best ensl-
peers of England declared that steam loco
motives could never be built to run over i've
or six miles an hour. The best engineers OF
New York set the outside speed of steam Ca
nal-boats at five miles per hour. The great
OF lection to the railway was the want OF
grip" on a smooth rail-, and the consequent
supposed necessity OF cogged rail or sta
tiouary power. Ga the canal the d.tAcuity
| is in the supposed warhi3g of the banks and
the piliug up Ut u wave In frout OF the boat.
| Another difficulty with the locomotive was
the want Of draught in the furnace, oWlog
TO the low smoke pipe. The same trouble
is experienced in the furnace OF the Charles
Wack. TO carry the parallel lurther-ail
these objections were ooviated 90 the rail-
| they will be on thc canal
The Wack has already overcome some serl-
Gus difficulties. She has proved that pre-
pcller boat can run on the canal without the
interference of her wheels with lock gates,
tuw-li es, Or the sides a2d bottom OF the ca
ual itself, by the simple plan OF recess and
guard which put the wheels ont CT The way
OF danger. She has moreover proved that
the same boat can find stUwage Tor tuIl
cargo, aside from the space occupied by tue
eugiue-ruom. Another objection to steam
has been removed by the discovery that she
does not create u wave larger than that OF
an ordinary lIner, aud consequently does not
wash the banks.
This is not all of the wave question, how
ever. The really troublesome wave is that
which precedes the boat. swell Is created,
the waters impolled by the boat pi!ing up IN
the narrow channel 80 that 1t Is compelled,
rs it were, to climb up hill all the tlme.-
Some years since a series OF experiments
were made, with horse power, Oh the Pas-
lev Canal, Scotland, which have bearing
on this point. We tnd an abstract OF the
report made Of these experiments, Ia the Al
tauy Journal, under the signature OF Ii. u.
Rankin. Ii, says:
"TLe report goes on to state, that the
great objection hitherto made to rapid travel
ling on canals, is the injury done to the
banks by the wave raised by the boat, and
this has been sufficient and fatal. But this
subject appears not to have been Sufficiently
understood, and it is yet to be accounted for,
why boat going at the rate OF ten or twelve
miles an hour produces no wave, or one SO
light as hardly 10 be perceptible, while the
same boat going at tie rate OF six miles an
hour creates wave highly detrimental to
the sides Of tue caual yet such Is neverthe-
less the fact"
There are several canals 10 Great Britain
where velocties of 9 10 ii miles al hour are
obtained with hurses Now, 1t the report
mentioned in the extract above Is ut I'll re-
liable, the idea Of four mile speed on the
canal must be abandoned, and rate o! ten
or twelve miles per hour substituted.
Looking at the subject in that light, the
difficulties Of speed, washing the BANKS anu
the preceding wave, are rather imaginary
than real, or at any rate to be overcome 10y
means which will add greatly to the utility
of steam. The writer quoted from above
gives other facts which may be Of interest to
bJat-builders. lie says:
"Thc FIST experiment. was made on the
Androssan Canal, a short, HdJTOs canal, II
miles long, connecting Glasgow with J0hE-
s,own. The boats used were known ns Iron
Fiy Boats. Tnese boa's were from 20 TO 30
feet long, and from q to and Q feet vide.
aud were made Of sheet iron plates o. about
No. IL wire gauge, firmly riVelted; the bot
toms were G.!, or nearly Sc, with one or Two
KEYS. They carried ircm 70 to ~ Fasseh.
gers, and drew when loaded from to l.
inches water. The same form Of boats were
for some years in use on the Union Canal,
connecting the waters OF the Clyde ana
Forth A writer 10 Glasgow paper, speak
ing of Fly Boats, says: Il have performed
q voyage Of 81 miles along two canals, IN
Guiding the descent Of to"r and the ascent
of elere, locks, the passage Of eighteen draw
bridges where the line was thrown If. and !
tunnel halEa-mjle long, in SIC hours ana
thirty eight minuie5--the boat was drawn On
stages, by two horses each stage"
We yesterday published Il paragraph from
the Statesman, saying that oue serious dim.
Guilty with the Wack was 4 deficiency OF
draft in the iurnace, and that the captain
prcposed to put on blower. Tbs WAS tue
old trouble with the locomotive. AT the
great contest which settled the capacity OF
steam for railway loCgmoti0n. previous to the
orening Of the Liverpool ard Manchester
Railway, two of the locomotives entered Tor
the priza were low pressure and two hIgh
pressure. The former had blowers or ians
for the purpose Of securing draft. The lat
ter, high pressure, discharged the waste
steam into the smoke pipe. The former
tailed--the latter were successful. The Wiz
per, George S:epbenson's ''R ,cket," was per-
haps the best engine of it, weight ever con
ssructed. Now :he d fhculty with the "aek
| is lust what Stephenson cOuquered when be