The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1880-04-13
THE NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT, TUESDAY APRIL 49, 1880

spaced four or five feet apart Each locomotive
would rest on ak rails. III one basin at each
the trstfic, the number could be Increased. The
| spt,rs line OF track could be doubled II neees-
sary..
cross section Of u oaual with n cradle under It.
LIZ tshowa the ordinary method by which vess sals
are held In ,dookH by the movement inwardly of
tWo opposite wedEesshaped blocks of wood.
These keee the thip from rolling and support
| patt nt her weight The keel bears the greater
he blocks would be only ten feet apart or. Ii
necessary. only ak feet apart The eraFle
wheels are only three feet apart and zach b. ars
= ~ nresture !, Of i've tone Their pnmber will be
snlli@laot to carry the heaviest ships With their
The great number of whaela and rails would
refuee The jolting and oscillation wi ioh wa .x-
PEI ienee In ,iding over m ordinary railroad
II there is little di Terence IN the height Of the
two rails of stpss track. the car o eilates !;
bnt, you eah readily Hee that II there were four
rais instead Of two. oscillation would be much
lessened. The reason why Pullman palace cars
run smoot er than ordinary passenger oars. Ia
bee use they are carried on elk and som eimes
eight wheels at each end insteRh of but four
BY doubling the number Of wheels the joIttpg
effect OF uneven rals is reduced one.half If
the number OF rails were also doubled the os.
oslla'ory movemsnt would likewise bs but one
that with ten or twelve hundred wheels under
one siugle MAS, unnipg on twelve rails, both
the iolting aud Oscillation Of such q body would
bs almost wholly prevented even If running mt
tour times tho speed proposed. | have DO doubt
that ut II Hpeed Of twelve miles an hour. you
would scarcely ses siRn oil motion on glass
of water et.nding. on ,sble IL tho ships cabin
It has been proposed TO carry ships oat In
eaissons filled with water. because the ship ts
not strong enough TO have the eide support
taken away, The water would weigh almost
bali ne much as the chip. You would then only
be lnEr e asipg the deuty IN fact creating
must be plain that If you add 80 much more
weight to the burden TO be carried you must
II your eaieson sho Id spring q leak and lot the
water all out. your chip would be- much worse
OF than # properly supported on blocks. Be.
sidee all this. you would haul an immense load
" Mr. Singleton greater the number of
wheels the more equal the bearing on the foun-
Mr., Eads-Certainly. The pressure of the
heaviest ships on each Fuua, Q foot OF cart
umn Of stone u foot aauare. which is much lees
than the pressure Of the walls Of n one. story
brick or etone house. 1t is utterly tnsignia ant
when compared with that imposed by th Wash
tDEtOn monument.
The Oharmen You have twelve rails.
Suppose an accident should occur. and that ono
ia :aetiug. You would have wsight Of 6D00 or
5000 tons; have you thought of any possibility
of raisiug the mass2
Mr.. E4de- Every wheel Ia independent of its
fellow, any any wheel that breaks, or becomes
derafltd. or meets With any acc dent, can be
max g. apa gha Is f the
wheel to the strength of the whoie number of
wheels Ia so insis nifeant that It could be
broken TO places without the possibility of de-
railing the others, Where you have only two
rais. If one wheel gels off the derailment of the
other wheel Ia almost inevitable: but If you
have four rails. an accident to one OF the wheels
will not neceesariiy throw the other three off
their rails. II you have twelve raila, there Is
atill lees possibility Of derailmept The great
length Of the car also prevnnts derail ment, be-
eause there would be the hanehes of 80 many
perfect wheels to resist II.
Mr.. Sipeeton-How long would II take to put
a stip n the carp
Mr. E.ds-I do not think II would Involve
more than thirty minutes, It will take less
time to let 1t off than to put 1t on, because the
adjustment of the supports would have to be
made In putting It on. don't propose to OK
tend the railroad out into the hatbor or sea:
the excavations could be made. for the sub
marine parts OF it on the land, and as they
would eonrtltute part Of the whole line Of the
railway when oom pleted. we would have that
much leHe length Of road to build. The sub
merged railway terminals constitute an in
tegral part of the Who'll RAILWAY.