The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-05-15
9itllntoud 1ispatth.
THE CIRCULATION OF THE DISPATCH
Is LARGER THAN THE COMBINED CIR
CULATHoN OF ALI THE OTHER DA1LY
NEWSPAPERS OF THE CITY.
The One.nntl Railway.


Much has been said and written about the
respective merits and dement's of broad
gauge and narrow-gauge railways, but a
railway with no gauge ut all, and only O
single rail, is a new feature in modern en-
terprise, and therefore possesses consider
able interest TO the public generally. We
Will endeavor to give our readers some idea
OF this rather curious invention, which owes
its origin to the busy brain of Monsieur
Larmanjat, French civil engineer, who
has not only suggested the idea, but put
| it into practical operation in France and
| other portions Of Europe. IN
The Larmanjat theory is this, that rail-
| ways, as they are now constructed, with
two rails, and the wheels of the locomo-
tiveS and cars solidly fastened to the shafts,
are on wrong principle, and create resist
ance in the curves, which might be avoided
by establishing the road with but q single
rail, put in the same plane with the longi-
tudinal axis of the locomotive and cars.
| Forty per cent. of the weight of the engine
and tenders goes on the driving wheels, and
rs the adhesion or friction produced by that
weight between the line Of the wheels and
the rails is smaller than it would be on q
macadamized road, 1t is claimed that the
adhesive power of the engines necessary
to draw the train is only obtained by mate
|
when the road has heavy grades, and that
60 per cent. Of that weight is constantly
borne by the locomotive, and does not in
crease the tractive power due to the adhe-
sion on the rail. In building railways with
two rails, and fastening the locomotive and
car-wheels to the shafts, LarmaDjat says the
same mistake has been made as if wheelbar-
rows were constructed with parallel wheels
pinned to single shaft. His invention
works the driving-wheels of the locomotive
on n macadamiZed road, or on oak planks
laid alongside the rail, which gives him a
tractive power six or seven times greater
than iron can furnish, aud causes the whole
train to run easily and safely on single
rail- This rail is Of the American pattern,
| and is spiked in the usual manner, but in
the middle Of the ties, while the planks
alluded to are bolted fast to either end of
the ties. For turnpike railroad having q
grade Of five feet per hundred feet, and
where the train is to weigh fifty tons and
the locomotive ten, the ties require to be
| five feet seven inches long and little more
than three inches thick. The oak planks
are sixteen inches wide and three inches
thick. If on a turnpike with the above
mentioned grade the same weight is to be
drawn, and the driving.wheels to run on
macadam instead OF plank, the rail, instead
of resting on ties, would rest on oak planks
one foot wide and three inches thick, laid in
the same direction as the rail. The planks
and part Of the rail would he buried in the
ground; the rails would weigh about eight
and one half pounds to the foot, and the
macadam, on either side, would be one foot
in width, The locomotive for our one-rail
railway has four wheels !; two being placed,
the one at the front and the other at the rear
of the engine, bearing on the rail. These give
the direction, and are double flAnged. The
other pair Of wheels are placed in traverse
plane, passing on a line in front OF the ire
box. They run on the oak planks or mac
adam, as the case may be, and are tue
driving wheels. BY the aid of q screw.
ingeniOll>ly contrived, the engineer can
incline his machine more or less,
and thus the weight can be put on or taken
from the driving wheels. These wheels a, e
not wedged to the shaft, but turn loosely ;
they have coilea springs, one end of which
Is fixed to the shaft, and the other to the
hub Of tie wheel, SO that the engine moves
only after Il certain ntmber Of revolutions,
the spring coiling itself till the tension is
equal to the power necessary to start the
train. BY this arrangement, when the en-.
CINE is going round curve, one OF the
Springs discharges itself OF all the difference
which its wheel has TO run greater than tie
other-so that the strain on the shaft and
wheel sliding. so troublesome in the two
rail system, is avoided entirely. The di.
rectirig wheels. being on pivot, can be
turned in any direction. The cars also have
four wheels, two to run on the rail, .anu
two on the plank or macadam; and all The
weight bears on the rail and the side wheels,
the latter being smaller than the directing
wheelA and intended only to maintain The
equilibrium.
But amer all theorizing and speculation,
the proof Of the soundness Of the pudding
il in the eating of it-and Monsieur Larmau'
lat has one-rail railway running between
Rainey and Montfermeil, near Paris, which
has been in successful operation two years
On this railway locomotive weighing
three tons draws two cars with twenty
passengers in each, up grades equal to
$40 feet in q mile, and through curves
of 16 feet radius. This sort OF railway can
be built in Trance for about 81, 1,6U0 per
mile. The locomotives weigh SIX ana Ten
tons, the former runs fourteen miles an hour,
drawing, besides its ow1 weight, thirty
| five tous up grade OF two teet IN nun,
dred, and costs 1900. The latter VIII
draw fifty tons at rate OF elght mies he oSd an
hour I'D the same grade, and costs So,OO0'
On o level it would draw $50 tons. The
cars are correspondingly cheap.
Many practical men believe that the Lar
maniat system is the true solution OF the
problem of putting railways on turnplkes
with the grades and curves which the COM
mon highway usually has, and 1t is not I'M
possible that the experiment Will soon Dc
tried in this country. Should it he as sue.
cessful here Us in Europe, it would De ol
| immense benefit, especially in mountainous
tregions. or even in such hilly localities as
| New England.