The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1870-07-01

made. The problem has been solved, how
ever, by an arrangement of mechanism
which need not be described here, furthe
than by stating that the load is made t.
hang down on one side of the support. I
was also necessary so to arrange that Their
should be subdivision of the load, in OF
der that an even distribution might b
made, and consequently light rope rem
dered available where a thicker one would
else be needed. Moreover, as hand haul
age is out of the question in these high
pressure days of ours, means were to b.
devised for the ready application of steam
or water power to hove the loads. Their
again, the keeping up ola system ofcontin
ucus or successive despatch and arrival OF
loads; the accommodating of the route to
sharp curves and considerable gradient.
OF ascending and descending incline; and
triumph over all sort Of irregularities in
the surface of the country-all would bt
necessary to the application of the system
over distance measured by miles inst cad
of yards.
The difficulties have been pretty nearly
surmounted and there are now several
short lines of "wire tramway," as it is call
ed at work. The system ought perhaps tc
have an additional word, such as arial, OF
suspension, or ooerhead, to denote its peculiar
characteristics; but let that pass. The
''modus operandi' may be thus described
There is an endless wire-rope, in two lines
which Gin railway language may be called
the up-line and the down-line. The rope
is supported on a series of pulleys carried
by substantial posts, the intervals whereof
may vary from few feet to thousand
feet, according to the nature of the country
but which are usually about two hundred
feet There is a drum at one end, the load
ing end, of the line, around which the rope
IS wound; and steam or water power is en-
ployed to give any desired velocity to the
rotation; in practice, q velocity which
drags the rope five or six miles an hour is
generally deemed sufficient. The boxes
are made of various sizes and degrees OF
substantially, to receive loads varying
from hundred weight to quarter of a
ton each. Without hanging too closely
together on the rope two hundred of these
boxes may be easily despatched in an
hour; each forming kind of tiny railway
train by itself
Each box is suspended from the rope by
a pendant of peculiar shape, which at once
keeps it steady on its travels, and at the
same time enables it to pass without him
drance or obstruction the supporting posts
and pulleys. At the arrival end of the
line there is miniature railway, so placed
as tosrekeive two small wheels with which
each boX is provided, and thus to pass on
the box to its destination. According as
each end becomes receiving terminus in
turn, so is this little bit of railwSF provi-
ded at each end. AS the rope continues to
work on, the box shunts to'the railaruns
any distance or anywhere, delivers it's load,
travels back, and stunts. to.thc return rope
to fetch another load. Inclines as steep as
one ir six Compared with which, Fell's
Mont Gents Railway may almost be called
a level line) have been surmounted; while
curves of exceedingly sharp radius may be
managed. Ofcourse the line of rope itself
is not q curye-itGs succession ofstraight
lines but these lines may turn off in various
degrees of angle at the supporting posts.
For considerable distances, steam or wa
ter power is of course required; but there
are many circumstances under which horse
power will suffice to rotate the drum and
drag the rope. Where the general level of
the line declines in the direction in which
the principal loads are to be carried, very
little moving power will be needed; and if
the incline be steep, the line will almost
work itself.
There arc now several short lines of this
singular overhead tramway at work, and
Others In course of construction, One,
opened last year, is at Messrs. Ellis and
EVerard's granite quarry in Leicestershire
1t is only three miles long, but it very well
illustrates the kind of service which the
system is fitted to render. 1t conveys
granite from the quarry to the nearest rail
way station. The arrangement, when seen
from distance, has good deal the APP
pearance of an electric telegraph but the
posts are higher and stouter and the wire
rope is much thicker than the single wires
OF telegraph. A portable steam engine
such as is used by wellto-do farmers for
agricultural purposes, drives orrather draws
the rope at speed of about five miles
an hour. The boxes hold hundred weight
OF stone each, and follow one another mer-
rily along the rope. The full boxes travel
along one length or line Of the rope; the
empty boxes return along the other length {;
and all Of them deity keep clear of the
supporting posts, in virtue of the peculiar
and ingenious mode of suspension. And
so the loads travel on from Bardon Hill
Quarry to the nearest railway station The
quarry owners used to employ largo
number of horses, vehicles, and mon to
manage the transport; but low the Wire
Tramway Company, who are working MI.
HodSso4a system, do the labog at the rate
ofthirty Thousand tons of stone per annum.
The supporting posts are hundred and
fifty feet apart, except one bold span of
six hundred feet across difficult bit of
country. The wire-rope is only half an
inch thick, and yet it will bear upward of
hundred laden boxes hanging to it at
once, all at different stages Of advance be-
tween the starting point and terminus
Chambers J9urnqA
CoLoR OF HQRlsEs,- -The Arabs illustrate
their estimate ofthe different colors of q
horse by the following story,
"a chief of u tribe was once pursued by
enemies. He said to his SON.
"My son, drop to the rear and tell me
the color of the horses of our foe, and may
Allah burn his grandfather
"White," was the answer.