Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-08-19

STEAM ENGINES FOR CITY PASSENGER RAIL
RoADs.--A person in Philadelphia has prepared
drawings Of improved steam engines for city pas,
senger railroads, which, if they possess all the ad-
vantages claimed for them, must soon take the
place of horses. The Ledger says .....
The engines are direct acting horizontal ones,
with vertical boiler of peculiar construction Of fire.
box for consuming smoke. One man only is re-
quired to manage the machine, which is done by
a couple of levers. By cOndeusing the steam
noise is avoided, and at the same time the feed
water for the boiler II heated Steam, hot air, or
compressed air may be used, but steam is preicra
BILE, as the engines will be continually in notion
whether the car is or not. 1t Is designed to boy
up the machine 50 as to present tho appearance Of
an ordinary car, with small chimney like a stove
pipe. Built upon the plan proposed, the Cugines
will occupy about the same space as the horses -
The cars can be heated by steam in the winter and
cooled by fan in the summer
Another advantage claimed for steam over
horses is, that there will not be any dust and that
it can be more easily managed, the cars being
stopped in less time The engines can be applied
to the cars now IN use, and will with ease ascend
any Of the grades in the city. IL is claimed that
on the score OF economy, steam has decided ad-
vantage over horses costing from one third 10 one
half less. The estimate is that twenty three m
gines would do for q road running twenty cars
which would require lao horses, the engines last
ing ten years, while the horses would be of little
value after use Of half that time The engines
too, could be easily repaired, the parts being du-
plicates Of each other The subject Of using steam
ON the passenger railroads has been brought TO
the notice of the Presidents Of the several compa-
MES, and it is understood that they have agreed to
hold a meeting for the purpose Of giving il the
consideration that its importance merits
SPEED or THE LocoMoTIvE.--ln the published
scientific worl-s of the late DR.. Lardnor, Is the
following statement and calculation which will
convey to the reader some idea Of the enormous
speed of locomotive going at the rate Of seventy.
five miles per hour. The extreme danger Of at.
! tempting to cross railway track before train
can be by this readily seen aud appreciated
/ Seventy miles An hour is IN round numbers, one
hundred aud five feet per seconds that is motion
/ IN virtue oil which passenger is carried over
thirty five yards between two beats Of a common
| clock Two objects near him, q yard asunder pass
the eye in the thirty hth part of a second ana Il
thirty five stakes were erected on the side of the
. road, one yard asunder the whole would Lasg bis
eye between TWO beats of the clock; If they had
any strong color, such as red they would apppar
a continuous fash Of red. AT such a speed there.
fore, the objects on the side Of the road are not
/ distungushabe
When two trains having this speed pass each
other, the relative velocity will be double this on
| seventy yards per second aud If one OF the trains
were seventy yards long, it would fash by in "a
single second. To accomplish this, suppOsiTlg the
! driving wheels seven feet ia diameter The uIstpu
must change its direction in the cylinder ten times
a second. But there are two cylinders, ana The
mechanism Is 80 regulated that the discharges Of
steam are alternate There are therefore. twenty
discharges OF steam per second, at equal interyals
aud thus these twenty puts divide q second into
twenty equal parts, each pun having the twentieth
part OF second between It aud that which preoedes
| aud follows it,
The ear, like the eye Is limited in the rapidity OF
It's sensatOui aud sensitive as that organ H. il Is
not capable Of distinguishing sounds which succeed
each other at intervals Of a twentieth part of a
second. According 10 experiments that have been
made, the fight Of a cannon ball was six thousand
seven hundred feet in a quarter Of a minute, equal
10 five miles per minute, or three hundi cd miles
per hour. IL follows, therefore, that a railway
train going at the rate Of seyentysdve miles pei
hour, has the velocity Of One-iourth that OF !
! cannon ball
Many Of the accidents which happen 10 person.
attempting TO cross railroads are the result o
Ignorance Of the velocity Of the iron horse when
aIrly under way.
Il man with q horse aud carriage upon an uu,
important public road in country t0Wu, should
approach and cross the track az speed Of six
miles per hour, which would be crossing rapidly
AN express train approaching lhe moment would
move towards him two hundred and hlty.soyCt
feet while be was 10 the act Of crossing q disianc,
barely sufficient TO clear the horse and vehicle.
the horse was moving at rate no iaster than
walk, as the track is usually crossed, the traii
would move toward him while in the act OF CROSSING
more than i've hundred feet. This fact account
for the many accidents at such points The perso
driving thinks be may cross because the train Is
few rods distant