The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1879-08-02

| e%s>@ tAaoN VA W Ill
deep end Of the lock. The waite
would then be allowed to escap
from the lock, the ship lowered I,
the ocean level, the "a gates open
Cd, aud the vessel would be thcl
ready to resume her voyage In .h'
other sea. Another method o
transfer between the sea and III,
railway, equally practicable an,
perhaps less expensive, would b,
to have a platform Of iron Of sum
cient strength to support: First, .
portion OF the railway; second
the car or cradle 10 receive the
ship. and third, the ship itself
This platform should be supported
on each side by row oflarge iror
columns sunk into the bottom o.
the harbor and extending up abov,
water to receive the hydrostati.
cylinders with which the platform
would be raised and lowered. By
this hydraulic apparatus the plat.
from should be lowered to a depth
sufficient to permit the ship to be
fioated in over the railway car on
the platform, after which tho hy-
dr0static presses would-lift plat.
form, car aud ship, until the rail.
way track on the platform would
correspond in height with and form
an integral part of the railway
extending across the isthmus. The
platform I'have thus briefly en-.
dcavored to explain would simply
be o huge elevator on which the
terminus Of the railway would be
laid. Ofcoursc such an elevator
would be constructedin q harbor
at each end Of the railway. The
purpose Of such elevators would
be to lift the ship out Of the sea at
one end Of the route, and lower Il
into the sea at tho other, aud thus
avoid using a steep grade into the
sea like the marine railways which
arc seen IN almost every navy yard
Many ships are very long and any
change Of grade wonld have a
tendency TO strain them. ANY
pcrccptiblc change Of grade mnst
therefore involve devices to pre-.
vent such s'raining. and these de-
vices it IS desirable to avoid. For
the same reason curves in such a
railway should bc avoided. If
a change OF direction be absolutely
necessary il can be managed BY Il
turn-tablc at Tie locality where q
change of alignment is desirable.
Tho avoidance of curves would
greatly simplify the construction
Of the car on which the ship is to
be transported. This Car would
be formed by joining sew
cral separate sections together, ac-
corcing to the length of tho ship.
Each sepcrate section would pro-
baly be 100 feet long aud bo sup
ported by about 200 wheels some
Of which should be drivers, actu-
atcd by propclling engines. Rubber
Or steel springs should be inter-
posed between the axles Of the
wheels and the car. Zach section
Of tho car or cradle that carried
The ship would really constitute a
locomotive. The propelling en-
yines would be placed at each side
lni at such height as to prevent
,uqmcrnence when the car would
10 sunk on the elevators or in the |
ocks. The weight Of the largest
steamers and their car.
yoes wonld not exceed 10 900 tons,
md such ON one would be carried
N a cradle composed Of five such
locomotives. These would have
'bont 1000 wheels bearing on eight
,r ten rails with a pressure Of
bout n tons 10 each wheel. This
8 only twice as much as the pres
urc on the rails under the driv-
ng wheels of tho locomotive Of an
xpress train. The total weight
+ ship, cargo and cradle would be
distributed over an area Of road
ed 40pfeet wide by 500 feet long
nd would be only 1900 pound
'cr square foot, allowing 1000
ons for the weight Of the car.
his is not half the pressure on the
arth under each tie when ead1t
air of the driving wheels Of an
rdinary locomotive passes ever
!. n
IN moderate grades an ordinary
reight locomotive will pull about
D loaded cars from Is to 90 miles
er hour. Tho weight of the cars
nd their load is about 1000 tons,
nd this is carried on about 400
heels Hence the largest ship
nd her entire cargo should not re-
uire more than the poWet Of 81
ozcn such locomotives to moveit
the same speed over4 similar
rades. From this It must be evi-
ent that the ship once safely
laced on a properly constructed
A., adjutted to the railway Of 4
bstantial and we'll baliastod