Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1868-11-20

| ZION OF lne uIlVWB WHetlb. lhis iVau
steamer weighs, with water and coal for
/ two hours work, about S1S tons, II was
| intended to haul twelve tons gross weight
up gradients of one In sixteen. II was
| found on trial that IL was capable Of doing
great deal more than the stipulated
amount of work IL was first tested by
going up very crooked and steep street
| In Edinburgh, viz, Cock burn street, with
a wagon In tow weighing 294 tons. This
street rises with gradient in some places
of one in eight, but the road steamer went
up with the greatest case. 20. i-Y wv
The next trial was of q very severe
kind Four heavy wagons, constructed
to carry 5ll tons Of Goals each, were at
tached TO the road steamer. Bach wagon
weighed when empty 22l tons. With this
train in tow the new steamer ran from
Leith TO New, Battle eollieries, a distance
of about eleven miles The wagons were
then loaded with 81 tons of Goals each,
and the road steamer drew the whole four
| from New Battle to Lcith over roads with
gradients rising one In sixteen in several
places. The total weight Of Goals was
twenty.one tons; If to this the weight Of
the four wagons is added 1t makes gross
weight of thirty.two tons, and including
the weight of the road steamer the weight
of the whole train was upwards of forty
tons. With this train Of so #. long no diff
fculty was found in passing through the
most crowded streets of Edinburgh and
| Leith in the middle of the day and in the
midst of great stream of ordinary traffic.
| The india rubber tyres are durable he
yond all conception, and they are not in
the least affected by either heat, cold, or
| moisture.
In commenting on this new road steamer
the Western Railroad Gazette says
When we recall the number of years
which have elapsed since the first applica-
ton Of the power Of steam, or even since
its first application to looomotion, 1t seems
strange that II has not hitherto been made
more generally available. We are still
dependent almost entirely upon draught
animals, which eat grain and hay whether
they are employed or idle, to plough our
farms, TO reap our fields, to move and
| operate nearly all farm machinery, and to
| transport the products of the farm TO their
primary market. We are dependent upon
them, too, for the transportation of all
private carriages, and many a merchant
feeds horse year for the sake OF a ser.
| vice which does not occupy sixty hours.
We are, in fact, compelled touso an engine
| which requires fuel to keep it In existence
! as well as to work II. ,,-s go. -ru 0I
i Hitherto oil engines intended for com.
mon roads or fields have failed because OF
the difficulty of adapting solid, round
wheel to varying surface of various ma
terials. When the road was rough and
rocky the wheels would slip, and conse-
| Quently the vehicle would not move. On
any road of ordinary roughness the force
of the engine seemed 30 divided between
tearing the wheels TO pieces and tearing
the road to pieces that very little
was left to move the load, The problem
which seemed simple after the locomotive
was made successful has yet batlied the
inventive genius of the age.
The machine here described certainly
gives better promise than any of its pre-
decessors. Indeed, II seems probable tina
1t is the long sought solution of the prob
lem; to find an engine which can be moved
over any surface practicable for horses, anC
which can be economically applied to small
! loads as well as to large ones. III l
Is what the scientific men who have ex
Rmined il and reported upon 1t believe
to be, 1t may make revolution in loco
motion and in those mechanical operation
! which are accompanied by looomotien-
such as ploughing, moving, and the lik
(which will equal in Importance tn
change produced by the steamboat AM
the railroad.
! Nowhere in the world win such an In
,, vention be more valuable, and nowhere ii
, the world can such an invention be NOR
easily employed than on the prairies G
, the Northwest. Such machinery is ecc
/, nomically used where the grades are cas-
|, and the angles to be turned few-that II
on large and level fields. What shoul
: prevent the road steamer which Professo
! Archer describes from drawing behind
a gang of ploughs, turning up prairie sol
r for breadth Of six or eight feet, and II
one day completing fifteen or twent
acres with the help of two men-worl
which would require eight or ten men AM
at least twice as many horses as we worl
nowS Why, too, should we not have min
, ature engines of one, two or three hors
! power, for the propulsion Of private car
riages-horses which would need no foo,
except pint or two of petroleum, an,
!, that only at the time of the driveg
The economy of fuel over food cannC
!, be too strongly insisted upon. With liN
ing organisms we are compelled to pre-
: duce power daily whether we use
! or not. Every farmer who has
: stable full OF horses "eating thei
! heads of" all winter can appreciate this
1t is to be hoped that some of our larg
= farmers will procure one of these engine
i and thoroughly test it. Both by savin
, the labor Of horses and the labor Of me
f they may be of the greatest value In tn
i Northwest, If fully successful they woul
i give an impulse 20 production whic
a would In short time make fruitful field
o OF our houndless prairies and NIL III
2 world with plenty,