Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-10-23
Hydraulic Railway.

Never before has the railway fever
ragged to such an extent as ct present. In
q short time the entire Union, from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the st.
Lawrence to the Rio Grande, will be IRE.
ticulated and decussated" with a network
Of railroads. 1t is not surprising, there
fore, that the inventive genius OF man il
directed towards the improvement not
only Of locomotive power and running
material, but also Of the railway track It.
self. We see in the latter connection, by
an exchange, that Mr.. Girard, a French
engineer, has constructed an experimental
railway at the village Of La Fouchere, be-
tween Paris and St. German, in order to
make a practical test Of the use oftwater
as q motive power instead OF steam. This
invention is a curious application OF the
| principle that water lessons the friction
between W metal surfaces. In his sys-
tenn the wheels of railway carriages are re-
| dlaced by iron skates, which differ only
in shape and size from those used BY ska
tiers, and the mode Of propulsion is thus
described Each carriage, instead OF hav-
ing four wheels, has four skates. Ihe
skates have a ledge on each side so as to
ft on the rail, but not too closely. The
upper part Of the skate next the surface
Of the rail. is hollowee at the center by a
small groove; the groove is pierced with
holee communicating with tubes leading
to a reservoir in the carriage, in which a
mass of water is subjected, by means OF
compressed air, to a pressure OF from
seven to eight atmospheric. The turning
of a faucet establishes the communication
between the reservoir and the skates; the
water then rushes as from an hydraulic
press through the holes in the grooves OF
the skates. and a layer Of water is inter-
posed between them and the rails, on
which they are thus enabled to move
as on the smoothsst ice. The friction be-
ing thus reduced to minimum, the trac-
tive or propelling force can be greatly re-
duced.
The method of supplying the carriage
reservoirs is as follows:
"Between the rails is a longitudinal
tube, receiving water at a high pressure
from a reservoir, established at a high
level /; the tube is provided at every fifth
yards with u kind Of stop-cock, which en-
ables a powerful jet o. water to be direct
ed horizontally in the direction the train
moves in. The first carriage is provided
with q sort Of a needle which opens the
stop.cocks, the water PUSHES forth against
small paddles, placed under each carriage,
and communicates to the train such an
impetus as TO enable it to ascend very
steep gradients without any diminution of
speed. BY ali ingenius continuance a por-
ton Of this water is conveyed by the turn
of the paddles into the reservoir Of the
motive carriage, and is utilized to neutral
ize the friction between the skates and the
rails" |
N. Girard's model railway consist Of
W lines-one. horizontal, is forty metres
in length; the second, fifty metres long,
has an incline OF five centimetres per metre.
The trains ascend the gradient with a
rapidity fully equal to that of ordinary
trains propelled by steam. Nothing, it is
said, can exceed the ease Of the motion ;
and the facility with which the train can
be brought up, BY the mere cutting off Of
the water supply, is urged as a powerful
argument for the adoption Of these skates
instead Of wheels on ordinary railways.
The invention has attracted the attention
Of scientific men in Europe.-S. F. Eram-
liner. |