Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-09-10

CURIOUS INVENTION IN ENGLAND.
The English have no sleeping cars On their
railroads; they lock passengers in at the risk
of their lives; and in many other respects
they are behind us. But they have beaten us
In perfecting traction engine, which is now
IN successful operation In one of the great
English dockyards. The London Review
gives the following lively description of this
very ingenious and useful machine, which we
recommend to the attention of our engineers
and machinists
perhaps the oldest among the many very
odd creatures found in Australia is the animal
called the Ornithorhynchus, which appears to
to be mixture of the duck, the beaver and
the mole; and the traction engine, construct
ed according to the order of The dnnkJ,n,a
thorltles, and now at work there, is about as
strange medley Of half dozen machines,
having apparently totally diverse funtlons.
independently of its traction power-its main
employmont-it is fitted up as steam der
rick, as fixed engine to turn the shattlng in
the workshops, and as a capstan to haul the
ships about the docks and finally, it is now
used as a very powerful steam fire engine ca
pabe OF throwing jet to the top of the high
est ship building Sheds in short it can do
anything, the dockyard laborers declare, short
of talking, and that it can do, after its own
fashion, with its steam whistle.
"When we saw 1t at work it was removing
huge marine boiler from among the scores
OF similar monsters stored in the depot. 1t
seemed marvel how such bulk of iron
could be started at all; but by the use of
tackles and blocks it was first hauled clear of
others, and then having been lifted by Jacks
on to the travelling truck, the engine moved
Oft with its load, like an ant removing grain
of corn ten times as big and heavy as itself,
along the narrow tracks, in and out the tim
Der and other impcdiments in its way, round
the various docks, without noise or friction,
the great load progressed until it finally
reached its destination. The weight of the
boiler was about eight and twenty tons, which
together with that of the truck and engine,
made total of forty-three tons nevertheless
it went smoothly over the yard, and in conse-
quence of its broad Wheels made even less
mark upon the paving than would score
= of straining horses with their hoofs flashing
fire.
ODD JOBS.
Gas an instance of the odd iebs it is put to
do, we may mention that particular balk of
oaken timber being wanted from the middle
of stack. an immense number of laborers
were told Oft to haul 1t out. After many eff
forts, however, they gave it up, when the en-
CINE, happening to pass on other work, the
ullNCI tOluHlcSIGu W Set IL Out-u WOTh uOil6
almost as speedily as the pulling out of a
double tooth, an operation 1t somewhat re-
Sembled, inasmuch as the balk of timber
was very irregular in form, and must have re-
quired an awful tug to extract it from the
stack. When any steamer requires any re-
pairs to her screw, this handy jack of the yard
goes down to the edge of the dock, fits up its
derrick apparatus, and in few minutes the
huge blades of the screw are lifted on to the
quay wall. This kind of work is sometimes
varied by unloading timber from the ships
side and taking it to the stack; or with her
capstan head she lifts the heavy chain cables
from the holds of the men-of- war; and when
the other labOrers have done their work, and
the huge stationary engine Of the yard is at
rest for the day, the traction engine comes I'D
and plants herself firmly in the shop where
motive power is required for overwork, the
band is slipped over her driving drum, and
Immediately the whole machinery of depart
ment is at work. She is constantly thus en-
ployed in the armor plate shed, and in conse-
quence of the small expense at which she is
worked, compared with the large stationary
engine, an immense saving accrues to the
public service.
THE ENGINE CLIMBING HILLS.
'Perhaps the most curious and interesting
feature of the traction engine is the arrange
ment by which she is enabled to climb hills
which horses with heavy loads could not at
tempt, and not only to climb but to descend
with equal facility. In order to accomplish
TINS the driving wheels are fitted with me-
chanral arrangement which acts like a cats
claw IN Selling or taking hold of the ground.
ihese talons are projected through the rim of
the wheel, and are withdrawn with feather
ing action like that of paddle-wheel at the
moment they act as an obstruction; they SIM
uia.e' IN 1act the sheathing action of the
cars claw, clearing themselves, at every ro-
tation OF the wheel, OF the clogging soil. The
engine is capable of ascending gradients as
steep as one in six, and it has several times
oeen seen' to the astonishment of the towns
people, conveying 6S-pounder gun, weigh
the steep acclity of -Burrage hill. and re-
turning by the descent of Sandy hill to the
Arsenal; feat which il ia neadIae. =. -