The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-08

Split the Atmosphere in Two and
Rush Through the Gap Before 1t
Can Close Again.
E Henri Kelly in Rochester Express.
Any object passing through the air,
meets with a resistance in proportion to
| its velocity. The resistance a moving
object encounters is given by standard
authority, at so many pounds pressure for
| every square foot of surface exposed. At
a speed of ten miles an hour, air resist
apee is one half pound for each square
foot exposed; twenty miles per hour, air
| resistance is two pounds for each foot
| forty miles, eight pounds; sixty miles,
eighteen pounds; eighty miles, thirty
two pounds; one hundred miles, fifty
pounds; one hundred and twelve miles
Empire State Express time, sixty pounds
for every foot of surface and one hun
dred and twenty miles an hour, seventy
two pounds
An object passing through the air at
given rate of speed, has also a vacuum or
suction of resistance to overcome at its
rear end, which is equal to it's forward
or displacement resistance
Moving bodies also drag along their
| path the surrounding air in proportion to
their speed and form. At a speed Of a
mile minute, the bulk ofair drawn by an
| object is equal to its own bulk
| At one-half mile a minute, the air
| draw along is one-fOurth the bulk of the
| object; at one-fourth mile minute, one
| sixteenth bulk of the object.
Could we lay aside the air resistance.
an object could be made travel at a We
| locity of a mile a second. Heavenly
bodies in space beingfree from atmos-
| pheric pressure, have maintained
| through countless ages, a velocity of a
| thousand miles a minute. Then to at
tain greater speed for railroad travel,
| the great aim to center on mechanical
| ability at present, should be the construc-
ton of a train that will offer the very
| least possible surface exposed to the air.
A train called the '"Thunderbolt," con-
| sists of engine, tender and five cars. The
| principal Improvement over standard cars
| is in the shape of the train, which at end
| view is the shape Of a horseshoe. The en-
| tire train is made of boiler iron rivited to-
| gether, being true, even and smooth with
out even a bolt head projecting to catch
! the air from nose of pilot at extreme rear
of last car, smooth its entire length like
a snake.
Cars fit tight together with telescope
joint, dust tight. No steps or platforms
| are used, as the doors are at the side
with the floor only eight inches from the
track. The coupling is full with car
base, therefore there is no swaying or
rocking movement so common in other
| cars They are the same size inside
measure, as old cars, but run four inch
es above the track to bottom of sill
Old cars are forty-six inches to bottom of
sill The center of gravity is forty inch
es lower than old cars and also below the
aXle-bearing Consequently it is almost
| Impossible to oyerturn, thing of every
! day occurrence on the ordinary railroad.
| The trucks run lengthwise of the train
| instead of crOssWise the cars, allowing
| the floor to be dropped to eight inches of
the track. Each and every wheel has an
| individual air-brake which works alone
and independent ofall others. One brake
to car Is the common way.
In train of five standard ears there is
| by actual measurement ! ,436 square feet
of surface exposed to the resistanceof the
air, while in the "Thunderbolt" there is
| but l40 square feet exposed, or less than
one-tcnth as much surface exposed to air
| resistance. The side friction of both
trains is considered in this calculation.
| BY the foregoing Data of wind pressure
we find that the Empire State Express on
its famous run Of ll2 miles an hour had
! direct air resistance of 60 pounds a foot
! against ,436 square feet of surface equal
to S6,l6O pounds or 43 tons, without count
| ing about 40 tons power lost dragging the
| surrounding air along its path "Thun-
| derbolt' has 90 pounds pressure times
| $40 square feet surface exposed to air or
! S,46O pounds only, equal to One-tcnth of
! Empire State resistance.
Engine? In the common locomotive the
| boiler used is 56 inches in diameter by 81
! inches over all, having 23O two-inch tiues
| II inches long, supplying the cylinders
/ with wet steam taken directly from top
! OF water Steam travels "A inches
! through pipe to cylinder head. thus vast
/ ing 40 per cent of pressure in pipe fric-
! ton and turning five corners. The boiler
! in ''Ihunderbolt' is the same length,
! elliptic instead Of circular IN form; has
! SOP tiues instead Of DBL 1t has a horizon
J tai partition with experimenting steam
| chamber, larger than common boiler;
/ the steam travels only 4 inches to get
| from boiler to cylinder instead of "A
/ inches, thus saving the entire 40 per cent.
! lost by the old boiler. All steam is SUPER
| heated, also great advantage.
| A common engine eXhausts perpendicu-
! lar up against the air at it's gravity
! weight of 10 pounds per square inch.
! which is equal to a downward stroke of a
! 3,S0Opound hammer on top of the engine
| every time the engine pulls at the open
/ throttle In the new engine the exhaust
| is directly back, sending the smoke and
| clnders out of the rear end of the train
| and thus forcing the train forward by a
| pressure of $500 pounds a clear saving of
| nearly two tons of power.
| It Opened the Prisons.