The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-10-22
Locomotives without Railways.
From the Pail Mall Gazette

FROM lS all Hal aEcb
At the present moment, when 80 much anxiety
| has been expressed ON account of the expectation
Of horses, a Parliamentary paper just issued Will
be read with interest as showing that the time
approaches when we shall no longer require the
services of the noble animal. 1t appears, by the
report Of Thonson's " road steamer made To
the War Department, that this engine, unless,
perhaps, for hunting purposes, is far more useful
than any horse. Mr.. Anderson, the superIntend-
ent of machinery, says he has come to the
conclusion that the question OF steam traction on
common roads is now completely solved = that
the application of the india-rubber tire is a per-
feet success that it opens up an entirely new
field, and that he looks upon this application as
a discovery rather than an invention. The wheel
and it's tire may be described as consisting OF a
broad iron tire with narrow hanges, upon which
is placed a ring of soft vulcanlzed lndla-rubber +;
this ring is about twelve inches in width and five
inches in thickness, which thus surrounds the
iron tire, and is kept in its place by the tianges {;
then over the india-rubber there is placed an
endless chain of steel plates, which is the portion
Of the wheel that comes into actual contact with
the rough road, the reticulated chain being con-
nected by a sort of vertebra at each side of the
wheel. The india-rubber tire and this ring of
steel plates have no rigid connection, but are at
perfect liberty to move round as they please
without consulting each other or without the
concurrence of the inner ring of the wheels
which they both enclose. Mr.. Anderson states
IudI Tue TcdsOn WHY InlS WHICH, Il oO CiCu 10
because the soft india-rubber allows it To 1atten
upon the road, whether rough or smooth. The
wheel, being a circle, If it is a rigid structure,
| presents but a small surface, but this wheel con-
forms to every irregularity for a space OF nearly
two feet by the weight of the engine causing the
rubber to collapse, and so producing IA change of
form. In the construction of the road steamer
the greater portion Of the weight, including the
boiler, rests upon the driving wheels the third
wheel in front is for guiding the direction OF the
movement, and is perfectly under control. In
the course of experiments witnessed by Mr..
Anderson, the engine went up a zigzag labyrinth
of courts, and it can describe any figure almost
in a space of twice its length. The boiler en-
ployed is an independent invention adapted to
the carriage. Its chief popularity is the copper
pot for holding water within the furnace, and it
is so contrived that if the boiler contains any
water the pot will have a full supply. This
arrangement keeps the centre of gravity low, and
allows the engine to run up hills of l in 10 or
90 along an angle of 35 degrees. On the first
day Mr.. Anderson saw in Leith, the streets-were
very wet and adhesive. A train of wagons con-
tanning ten tons of -four, besides their own
weight, were standing at the bottom OF a slip
perry street with n grade of about l in IL to
this train the little engine was attached, and
away it marched us if it had no load, went up to
the top of the hill, and then down on the other
side, no breaks being required. After depOsiting
its load somewhere in Leith it ran down to the
HOrDODela seaSnOre at the rdIc Vi tcH miles an
hour. On surveying the sands, Mr.. Anderson
says, it seemed an impossibility that it could
walk on such soft sinking ground. but on it
rushed through all, over some quicksands, ran
into the sea and along its edge and in every
direction in the most wonderful manner. 1t
then, after returning from the seaside, removed
an old boiler from the docks to a yard at some
distance. The boiler and wagon, with the
fastening chains, weighed upwards of % tons,
and the boiler on the wagon stood some 25 feet
high. Up to this the engine backed, then
marched off with its load along the quay, over a
rising swing bridge and along other quays, until
it reached it's destination. The charm of the
performance, MIR. Anderson remarks, was in the
way in which it was done. No shouting. no
refractory or d~esultory pulling of horses, but by
the expenditure of a few pounds of Goals and
water the whole was accomplished with ease and
celebrity and so accustomed are the people of
Lcith to its performance that no notice was taken
of it except by the country horses, for the town
horses seem to know that it is their friend rather
than their enemy.