The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-09-19

1865. '''.s S. 3
:
A Traction Engine in Operation.
a curious Invention in England
The English have no sleeping cars on
Iheir railroads.; they lock passengers in at
the FISK OF their lives and in many other
respects they are behind u.s. But they have
Deaten us IN perfecting a traction engine,
Wnlch Is now in successful operation in one
OF the great English Dock yards. The
London ReUles0 gives the following lively
description OF this ingenious and useful
machine, which we recommend to the at
tention Of our engineers and machinists:
Perhaps the oldest among the many
very odd creatures found in Australia is
the animal called the Ornithorhyn chus.
which appears to be mixture of the duck, ,
the beaver and the mole; and the traction
engine, constructed according to the order
OF the dock yard authorities, and now at
/ work there, is about as strange medley
OF half dozen machines having apparent
1 ly totally diverse functions. independent
! OF its traction spowers-its main employ
mentrit is fitted up as a steam derrick, as
a 1xed engine to turn the shafting in the
workshops, and as a capstan to haul the
ships about the dock and finally, it is now
! =,
capable of throwing jet to the top Of the
highest ship-building sheds in short, it
can do anything, the dock-yard laborers
declare, short of talking, and that it can do
after its own fashion, with its steam whistle.
| when we saw it at work it was remov-
ing a huge marine boiler from among the
scores Of similar monsters stored in the de-
pot. Itseemed marvel how such bulk
OF iron could be started at all; but by the
| use OF tackles and blocks it was first haul
ed clear OF others, and then having been
lifted by jacks on to the travelling truck,
the engine moved off with It's load-like an
ant removing agrain -of corn ten times as
b'g and heavy as itself-along the narrow
tracks, in and out the timber and other
iinpedlments in the way; round the vari-
Gus docks, without noise or friction, the
great load progressed until it finally reach
ed its destination. The weight of the boil
er was about eight and twenty tons, which
together with that of the truck and engine
made total of forty-three tons neyerthe-
less 1t Went smoothly over the yard, and in
| consequence of its broad wheels, made
even less mark upon the paving than would
score OF straining horses with their hOots
flashing fire. .,z, =
LAS an instance of the odd jobs it is put
to do, we may mention that particular
palk OF oaken timber being wanted from
4 the middle OF stack, an immense number
OF laborers were told to haul it out. After
many efforts, however, they gave it up,
when the engine, happening to pass on
other work, the driver volunteered to get
it out-a work done almost as speedily as
the pulling out Of a double tooth-an ope-
ration it somewhat resembled. inasm,lch
as the balk OF timber was very irregular in
form, and must have required an awful
tug to extract 1t from the Stack. When
any steamer requires any repairs to her
screw, this handy jack of the yard goes
down to the edge of the dock, fits up it's
derrick apparatus, and in a few minutes
the huge blades Of the screw are lifted on
i TO the quay wall. This kind of work is va
/ ried sometimes by unloading timber from
the ships side, and taking it to the stack;
or with her capstan's head she lifts the
heavy chain cables from the holes of the
men-of-war; and when the other laborers
have done their work, and the huge sta.
4 tionary engine of the yard is at rest for the
day, the traction engine comes up, plants
lherself firmly in the shop where motive
power is required for over-work, the band
is slipped over her driving drum, and I'M
imediately the whole machinery of de-
part1nent is at work. She is constantly
thus employed in the armor plate shed and
in consequence of the small expense at
which she is worked compared with the
large stationary engine, an immense say
ing accrues to the public service .@ii.E
1 Perhaps the most curious and interest
ing feature of the traction engine is the ar
rangement by which she is enabled to climb
hills which horses with heavy loads could
not attempt, and not only to climb but to
descend with equal facility. In order to ac-
complish this, the driving wheels are fitted
with mechanical arrangement which acts
like a cats claw, in seizing or taking firm
hold of the ground. These talons are pro-
jected through the rim of the wheel, and
are withdrawn with feathering action like
that of a paddlewheel at the moment they
act as an obstruction; they simulate, in
fact, the sheathing action of the cats claw,
clearing themselves, at every rotation 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 been
Z seen to the astonishment Of the towns
people. conveying a 6S-pounder gun,
road, over the steep ACTIVITY of Burrage
hill, and returning by the descent of San
/ dy hill to the Arsenal; feat which, it is
needless to say, horses could not have ac-
complished. On Woolwich Common,
moreover, it maneuvres with three Of these
pondrous 6s-pounders with an astonishing
1 facility.
"The wheels of the traction-engine are so
broad that they do no damage to the ordi-
nary road, and they run without sinking
in marshy land and on loose ground where
ordinary wagons would sink beyond re-
claim. The ordinary pace OF the engine,
when carrying load over broken ground,
{ is about three miles an hour, but it will
run at the rate of ten miles An hour; and it
has been proved capable of drawing over a
good road as great weight as hundred
! tons. . fdi gga f.a.sHg .Gagn j. H-...
'srhis speed and power of traction, and
the low cost at which itworks, the expense
for the coke not being more than two o-and-
isixpence per day, point to the great adap-
liability of the traction engine for lines of
metropolitan tramway or to lines running
between towns incapable of supporting a
railway with its expensive rolling stock. -
&, The engine moves so noiselessly that, if
one were constructed specially to run in
q! our streets, no bCrses would be frightened
by it, and it may be easily arranged to
avoid the escape of steam altogether. How
ever, the extraordinary handiness and
oompactness OF this new power, the ability
to turn the power to any kind of work,
and the ease with which it is guided by the
aid OF the steerage wheel, viii, without any
measure of doubt, render her the indis-
pensable companion of man wherever