The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1860-01-28
Speed of the Locomotive.

Applctons Railway Guide says We do
not think that we can confer more service
upon our readers, as well as the community
at large, than by publishing the following
from one OF the recent scientific works of the
late DIR. Lardncr, by which he endeavors TO
convey to the reader some idea of the enor.
nous speed Of the locomotive going at the
rate Of seventy miles an hour We trust that
our readers will give it careful pcrusa |, and
at the same time reflect upon the dangerous
position they place themselves in by attempt
ing TO cross the track previous to The passing
of train, when they hear the sound of the
whistle ofth locomotive.
Seventy miles an hour is, in round num-
bers, one hundred and five feet per second;
that is a motion in virtue of which paSscn.
ger is carried over thirly-five yards between
two beats of a common clock. Two objects
near him, yard asun1er. the whole would
pass his eye in the thirty.lifh part ola second;
and if thirty.iive stakes were erected by the
side of the road, one yard asandcr. the whole
would pass his eye between two beats of the
clock; if they had any strong color, such AS
red, they would appear continuous flash of
red. A snch il speed, therefore, the objects
Oh the side Of the road are not ds,inguisiaLle
'When two trains having this speed pass
each other, the relative velocity vii, he double
this or seventy yards per second and il one
OF the trains were seventy yards Ling. it would
flash by III single second. To accomplish
this. supposing the driving wheels seven feet
IN diameter. the piston must change its drcc-
ton IN the cylinder ten times second. But
there are two cylinders, and the mechanism is
so regulated that the discharges of steam are
alternate. There are, therefore, twenty dis.
charges per second, at equal intervals: and
thus these twenty puffs divide second into
equal parts, each puff having the twentieth
part of second between it and that which
proceeds and follows It.
The ear, like the eye, is limited in the
rapdAy OF It's sensation and sensitive as that
organ is, 1t is not capable of distinguishing
sounds which succeed each other at intervals
OF the twentieth part of second. According
to experiments that have been made, the flight
OF IA cannon-bal! was six thousand seven hun.
dred ieet IN one quarter Of a minute. equal to
live miles per minute, or three hundred miles
per hour. 1t follows, therefore. that railway
tam. gong at the rate Of scventy.tve miles
per hour, has the velocity of one fourth that
of a cannon ball.
MANY OF the accidents which happen to
persons attempting to cross IA ,lroads arc the
result OF ignorance Of the velocity Of the lion
horse when fairly under way.
eff man with horse and carriage upon
an uni'nportant public road ina country town.
should approach and Cross the track at
speed of six miles per hour, which would be
crossing rapidly. an express train approach.
ing at the moment would move toward him
two hundred and iifty-seven feet while he was
in the act of crossing distance barely sufi-
cient to clear the horse and vehicle. If the
morse was moving at a "a no faster than
walk, as the track is usually crossed. the train
would move toward him. while in the act of
crossing more than five hundred feet This
TACT accounts for the many accidents at such
points. The person driving thinks he may
cross because the train is few rods distant