Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-01-12
A STEAMBOAT WAGON.
A Novel Vehicle That Travels on Land
or Water.

A Novel Vehicle That Travels on Land
or Water.
New York Herald.
Great astonishment was created re-
Gently among the inhabitants of the
Twenty-fourth ward of this CITY. by
their seeing an extraordinary looking
vehicle with three wheels. weighing
over two tons, steam its way across
the land from the Harlem river. and,
travelling to the waters edge, not stop,
but continue on over the surface of
the water as readily and almost as rap
idly as it had travelled down hill on
land. 1t was the 'R. M. Fryer" a
newly-devised ship or water carriage,
description of which was published
in the Herald a few weeks ago.
The principle on which it is con-
stIucted is entirely new one. and can.
not be more briefly described than by
saying that it travels over the water
instead of through it. AS much differ
ence is claimed by its inventor to ex-
ist between it an the ordinary boat as
between wagon mounted Oh wheels
and one that should rest on the ground
and be dragged along the surface by
means of wheels attached to its sides.
The new boat, which is merely mod
ell of the one now in course Of construc-
ton at Hastings, consists of a deck
supported by framework resting on
the axes of three hollow globes. The
globes being turned by steam power,
serve at once as the wheels of the ma
rine carriage and as buoys, which keep
the deck always above the water.
The trial trip of the model at
Macomb's dam was described in the
Herald. 1t being desirable to take the
model from the temporary yard at
Hastings, she was steamed up to Kings
bridge, and on Monday night was put
on land on the west shore of the Har-
lem river, near Two Hundred and
Twentieth street. 1t had been inten-
ded to steam her right out of the wa
ter on to the land and complete the
journey by the use of her own motive
power, but an unfortunate place was
selected for the landing, and not only
was the inclined plane on which she
was to travel too steep for her strength.
but the ground where she was landed
was marshy, and it was with consider
able difficulty that she was taken from
the waters edge to the firm ground be-
yond the marsh.
Once here, however, she was drawn
without trouble across the Kingsbridge
road, and up to the summit of slight
declivity, and from this point she was
easily guided by hand and propelled by
her own power to and into the water
beyond, and from this point she travel
ed smoothly to Hastings, attracting as
much attention on the water as she
had done on the land. Mr.. Fryer says
that the trip across the land, while it
was not necessary, was intended as a
demonstration of what his boat was
capable of. 1t was not intended for
use as land carriage, but one of the
advantages it possesses is the power to
travel over sand bars, or to back off
from sandy shore without external
appliance. The absence of friction,
moreover, attained by placing the boat
above the water instead of in it, will
enable the builder, he claims, to obtain
a far greater rate of speed than is pos
sible to any boat floating in the water.
So far as the trip across land is con-
cerned, there is no doubt that he
demonstrated yesterday that ship
can be made to travel without any wa
ter to float in. For the more complete
demonstration of some other points, he
is compelled to wait for the compile
tion of the vessel he is building, which
is to travel on three globes of twenty
four feet in diameter.