Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-11-28
"INQUIRER' AND ELASTICITY.

"INQUIRER' AND ELASTICITY.
Inquirer very gracefully backs down
from his attack on the iron wagon !;
such perils always environ those who
run against cold iron, and he is not
the first intrepid to find the same fate
by assailing the iron wagon, which has
nothing to lose by discussion. The
question is an important one, and no
person better qualified for exposing the
humbug. if there be any, than In
quirer," therefore his withdrawal is
to be regretted. / should not feel cali
ed upon 10 notice the matter further,
but for one delusion. He seems to
have elasticity on the brain and in
tended drawing me out on that subject
by his question of feathers and iron
He says in his reply last week, THE
iron wagon is dead weight and when
the wheels strike against anything
solid it is dead weight, whilst the
wooden wheel relieves itself by means
of its own elasticity" Certainly it
does, and relieves its owners pocket of
several dollars by means of having TO
go to Inquirer" for fresh repairs. A
wheel that has elasticity is without
strength and must give down when the
weight is sufficient TO cause il 10
! spring. Observe this fact every day
in dented tire, broken felloes and
shivered spokes. The rim of a wooden
wheel is supported alone by the tire
generally half-inch iron-and when it
strikes anything solid, with sufficient
force to dent the tire, the felloe or
spoke must give away. The wood is
constantly giving to the iron, and never
gets back anything. So much for your
elasticity, which is the great trouble in
wooden wheels.
The rim of the iron wagon is formed
of : inch arehed tire, and V shaped
felloe, fitting in the groves OF the tire,
the tire shrunk to the felloe, the swo
arches coming together, combining the
greatest strength possible in a rim,
which is supported by wrought iron
spokes, forled and riveted TO each side
of the felloe and secured so as not to
admit of working in the hub, conse-
quently will not give down under any
load team can draw when coming in
contact with solid substance. In
quirer" only shows the strongest point
in the iron wagon aud exposed the
weaker in the wooden. If spring or
elasticity is wanted in a wagon il must
be placed between the wagon and the
load, which will give TO dead weight
the same relief found in straw, feath-
ers or anything bulky in load. There
is no elasticity in q new we'll made
wooden wheel, thing that all faithful
wagon makers try to avoid, consequent
ly the heavy clumsy felloe and spokes.
He represents the spindles of the
iron wa on as being Eve inches; he is
mistaken, they are ten inches.
As to the monopoly Of the iron
wagon enterprise, such will exist so
long as the country encourages inven-
tive genius and grants patent rights,
and | would be glad for our people to
enjoy the benefits this one offers. Such
monopolies have built up large cities
in the East, and why not here. The
enterprise if established in GAINESVILLE
will not only compel all who use iron
wagons in two states to buy them here,
but will control the manufacture of
iron for all that may be used in the
South and West, a powerful lever to
compel foreign capital to manufacture
iron here, and | have to say to the
people OF GAINESVILLE and Montgomery
county, if they want this monopoly,
they must act promptly and sacrifice /
literally or it will very soon slip from
them like the cotton factory There /
is scarcely ever any risk in investing
in machinery in skillful hands, that
works either cotton or iron.
Allow ME, Messrs. Editors, to re-
turn thanks for the generous liberality, /
and enterprising spirit you have exhi- /
bited in allowing the use of your col
umns for discussion of this question. |
Respectfully, !
NJ. V. INGRAM.