The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1879-07-04

continues Mr.. Eads such an elevator would
be constructed IN harbor at each end of
the railway. The purpose Of such eleva-
tors would be to lift the ship out Of the sea
at one end of the route and lower it into
the sea at the other, and thus avoid using
a steep grade into the sea like the marine raj
ways which are seen In almost every navy
yard. Many ships are very long, and any
change Of grade would have tendency to
strain them, Any perccptible change of
grade must therefore involve devices to
prevent such straining, and these devices
it is desirable to avoid. For the same rea-
son curves in such railway should be
avoided. fla change Of direction be abso-
lutely necessary, it can be managed by
turn.table at the locality where change
Of alignment is desirable. The avoidance
Of curves would greatly simplify the con-
struction Of the car on which the ship is
to be transported. This car would probably
be formed by joining several separate sec
tons together, according to length of the
ship. Each separate section would proba-
bly, be 100 feet long and supported by about
200 wheels, some OF which should be driv-
ers, actuated by propelling engines Rub
Der or steel springs should be interposed
between the axles Of the wheels and the
car Each section of the car or cradle that
carried the ship would really constitute a
locomotive. The propelling engine would
| be placed on each side, and at sucha height
as to prevent submergence when the car
would be sunk on the elevator or in the
locks. The weight Of the largest merchant
steamer and their cargo would not ex-
ceeed 10000 TONS and such an one would
be carried on cradle composed Of five
such locomotives. These would have
about 1000 wheels, bearing on eight
or ten rails with pressure of about
twelve tons to each wheel.
| GREATER SPEED THAN A CANAL.
| On moderate grades an ordinary freight
locomotive will pull about fifty loaded cars
from fifteen to twenty miles per hour. The
weight Of the cars and their loads are about
one thousand tons, and this is carried on
about four hundred wheels. Hence the
largest ship and her entire cargo should not
require more than the power Of dozen
such locomotives to move il at the same
speed over similar grades. From this it
must be- evident that the ship once safely
placed on properly constructed car, adj
justed to the railway of substantial and
well-ballasted road-bed, can be moved with
certainty and ease at much higher rate of
speed than would be safe in the very best
canal that has been proposed. | would
however, not expect to use higher rate OF
speed on aship railway than eight miles
per hour,
The practicability of lifting the heaviest
ship out of water with perfect safety on
cradles adjusted to receive them is illustra-
ted in every dock yard in the country. and
one of the methods have referred to as
being huge hydraulic elevator, has been
put to practical test.
OF course the works and devices required
for the successful operation of ship rail
way should be Of the most substantial char
acter, and the elcvating machinery should
be Of such strength and power as to make
the transfer Of the ship from the railway &c
the sea- and from the sea to the railway, ,
matter of perfect safety and dispatch.