ihesmis Rsipizoaii souasit.

‘cally applied to the application of steamqfor the
purpose of propelling vehicles on the common
roads, andthe enlightened mind will instantly
perceive the justness of the analogy:--The sci-
entific man may apprehend many difiiculties,
but he will at once admit that, as there is no
doubt of the principle being obtained, the details
must follow.” ’ _ _
These enterprising gentlemen left the village
of Milbrook, two miles from Southampton, on
the 13th of August, in their steam carriage, con-
taining fuel, water, tools, and luggage, with a.
party’ of twenty-five persons, (most ofwhom ac-
companied them for no other purpose than to_
witness its performance,) and proceeded to‘Win—

 

' er, mi es, overa i y, an fii‘ some pla-

.____.

 

ces, softroad, in one hour and ten minutes, with
steam blowing off the whole distance. It was
discovered on this route, in descending some oil
the hills,which are very steep, that the apparatus
for retarding the carriage was not siiflicieiit. The
journey was, however, prosecuted towards Ox-
ford, through VVhitechurch-—a cross-road, so
hilly that the best horse coaches can only clear
8 miles, whilst the steam carriage cleared 12%
miles per hour. The delay on the road was, in

dense, our lamps were 11
Witllollt the least diffimilt

to reach, though with rather diminished speed,
Chapel-house, where we remained, and a
examined the boiler. On the following morn-
ing we proceeded towards Birmingham, and
notwithstanding the misfortune which had hap-
pened to us, the steep hills, well known on the
road, were ascended with facility :' that of Live-
ridge, nearly a mile long, at eight miles an hour,
--and our break, on descending, was found effi-
cient. Aclutch of one of the wheels was drop-
ped on the road, so that we were compelled.
when ascending the steepest hills, to work with
only one wheel-—a very serious disadvantage,
when the ascent is considerable. On reaching
Birmingham, it being dark, and the fog very
ghted, and we passed
the various: nnaches
on the road towards Lon ’ on; and with scarcely

gain tle we obtaine

res

At Newcas-
. cl 3. good strap for the blower, and
accompanied by Mr. Witty and his son, the dis-
tinguished engineers, proceeded on ourjourney.
Mr. ‘Witty has most handsomely sent us the
following letter, which, with the scientific and
practical man, will remove all doubt:

‘ Basford Cottage, near Newcastle,
Staffordshire, Sept. :26, 1832.

* ‘ Gentlcmen,——On your arrival at Newcastle,
last Saturday, I had an opportunity of witness-
ing the performance of your steam carriage on
the Liverpool road. Myself and son travelled
by it to Lawton Gate, 3. distance of seven miles,
passing over two or three very high and long
hills, well known to travellers on this road: in
one part. of which an arched dram crossing is
was undergoing repair, so that the road was im-

3%

ly expres sod their astonishment.

any fire, and no coke, for it was all consumed,
and one wheel only in gear, we forced with ra-
pidity ourway through long continued masses
of heavy gravel and broken granite just laid
down, up the steep ascent called the Bull-ring,
to the Church, without one check. There one
wheel, and little steam, were found hardly suffi-
cient to propel so heavy a body up so great and
so rough an ascent. The artisans of Birming-
ham, who now formed a dense crowd, saw the
cause of the difliculty, and instantly applied the
little additional power which was requisite, and
the vehicle reached its destination.”

Business, and a desire to view the various

no instance, occasioned by the slightest failure
in the machinery, or want of firmness in the go-
neral structure. On descending a steep hill the
drag got displaced, and the carriage actually
passed over the space of one mile in a minute
and ten seconds, without sustaining the least in-
jury; and in another instance, it was driven
through a river. On reaching Oxford, a more
powerful break was put on, so as cfi'ectu_ally to
regulate its speed in descending hills. On exa-

mining the. machinery’: 71 defect was _cliscnvcp'Prl U Lu. Ll..l:JU tux. in Will zuiu iiiiiiice oi LlL'§i51L1J.15 pig’.
ill the Crilllk Z13-‘<10 ; mid 011 3 '3"m°“‘l nlslwlnon’ sons to contend with, as will be seen by the
' ' "{f1T1‘1‘é‘xe(l csjitriict :‘""‘ ”"' ”‘“'*“‘-—~———————~—---

it, at Messrs. Treffrys and Haselclens, had con-
cealed three cold-shuts, and other faults : a- sin-
gular circumstance, too, as it was the only piece
of the machinery which was not made by tlicin-
selves. This was a fortunate discovei-y, as an-
other trial of its strength, like that of descend-
ing a hill at the rate of fifty mil cs an hour, might
have been attended. with serious consequences.
On this discovery, Mr. Summers started im-
mediately for Bristol, by the way of Milbroolc, a
distance of 120 miles, and required more than a
fortnight to complete and return with a new
axle to Oxford. During their stayat Oxford 311

manufacturing establishments at Birmingham,
Stourbridge, and Shut End, where Mr. Ras-
trick’s excellent locomotive engine is at work,(as
well as his useful hydraulic lif't,)‘induced them
to remain ‘a fortnight. On leaving Birmingham,
the boiler continued to leak, and the blowing
strap proved rotten, which ‘caused them some
trouble ; but this was of little consequence com-
pared with the discovery that they had not only
the natural difficulties of. such an undertakin

     

“ It was found that the connection between
the tank and the pump was closed, and we were
compelled to stop close to Soho,-the factory of
Messrs. VVatt and Bolton, who neither rendered
nor oil"ered to render us the least assistance, be-
ing the solitary instance we encouiitered in a
journey M200 miles, of sordid illiberality. ‘On
‘examining the cause oftlie stoppage, in the pipe,
we found ‘that. some one had fitted, very neat-
ly, a piece of wood into the cock, which acted
as a. plug. WY‘. do not envy the feelings of the
malicious person who could perpetrate such a
crinie against tliosc who had not given him any
oifeiiixcf After the discovery and removal of
the cause, the vehicle proceeded to Wolverhamp-
ton, and then to PC1ll{1‘l(lge, in Staffordshiic.

additional pump was added» 50 SUPPIY the “"nl"'

with water, together with SOD-10 Other triillfig l)i)llE1‘, duo. the only real defect which has hap-

Froin the badncss of the fuel, the leak in the

.- . ,  .. ,. 3 , 1 ft]; 1-chiner this )€t1‘t of the
matte,.s_ The splmgg of thb cziunigt. Wt1€,13 nod to my 0 16 na y, 1

also, strengthened. The boiler was perfectly‘
tight. When the new axle was in its place, they
,P,.'o,-,ec_ded on thgir way to Birmingham, and per-

      

journey was performed in an uiisatisfactoiy
llnallliéll‘. 'l‘he-defect: alluded to was the loosen-
ing of one of the piston rods, from the key not
having been accurately fitted. The three last

 

‘ . -  ~ ‘ ' ' ‘ ’ Penkridge were performed with only

formed the distance to ‘Woodstock in 38 minutes, miles into 1 At _ V I
« :. . '  A - . '.A Pnkrd  3
, . We '  4*‘ °'l1§".*,",“‘g“ ‘“"°
31P°riment5. rel MN“ ' H l i l l l D L l ’ out and left behind! .' VThis‘ ‘occupied several
which, it was thought, 1113)‘ be Pr°fitablY’u5ed days. VVe then gproceededh to Trentliaiinhilnn‘.
hereafter to heat the supply of water. 011 le11V- On the following morning, t , e a em to t is ar-

ing ‘vbodstock gigood supply of water in the
boiler was reported by the ‘a.ttel1Il8.11tS; but it
was soon discovered not to be the ease, and, to
complete themisfortune, they remark, “ the
communication between the tank and the pump
‘was closed, and thevboilcr without water and
re‘d'.°.Iio_t. Every precautionary measure was
ingtantl; ,~ adopted, and the boilers. allowed to cool
gradual y,.V ..'.'After a delay of three hours, water

J

quis of Stafford, hearing that tie cokes were
bad, most kindly sent us some of a quality so
superior that, on leaving Trentham, the adjacent
and lofty bills were ascended with such ra ‘idi-
ty,.that well-mounted horsemen could not eep
pace without distressing their animals. Mr.
Cork, a coach proprietor, timed the Vehicle, and
found that two miles, nearly all up hill, were
cleared in six minutes and a half. The differ-
ence in speed arising from the quality of the fuel
was now apparent; and the eeachrnen on the

w‘as,a.gs.in_iiijeoted, but, to our rest annoyance,

wefound thatftwo portions 0 our boiler were

jnju;-ea. .Its great. power, however, enabled us report our progress, gave up all doubt, and loud-

roof, sent expressly by the coach proprietors to

justwide enough to admit a sin

Knutsforcl and H00 Green.
and, as they express themselves, “ may be con-~
sidered a give and take piece of ground.”
distance is 35 miles, and was passed in seven
minutes, or a mile in two minutes.

1

passable, except on one side, where the ground
ad recently been filled in, but left quite soft, and
_ gle carriage. Not-
withstanding this formidable obstruction, I had
the pleasure of seeing your steam carriage pass

over it, although ' the wheels sank five or six
inches in the soft ground. With regard to the
speed, it much exceeded my expectations, when
I saw a coach with the horses at full gallop pass
by the steam carriage before we arrived at Law-

ton Gate.

. ‘ I cannot close my letter without congratula-
ting you on the success of this trial, and from
having some knowledge of the parts and princi-
ples ofsteam carriages, I think your patent boil-
er exceeds every other yet brought into use,
and have no doubt of its being generally adopt-
ed.--I am, Gentlemen, yours, very respectfully,

' ’ ‘ RICHARD VVi'r'rv.
‘ To Messrs. Ogle and Summers.

‘P. S.—-As you were much annoyed on this

road by the want of good coke, permit me to re-
commend what is here called I/Vorsley Coke. It
comes from Lancashirc. ‘
use it for smelting; no other will bear a blast
equal to this. No doubt it may be found at the

1-

Our iron founders all

“‘ "fies in Liverpool.--R. W.’ ”
The greatest speed attained on the journey,
. Y . , y

e road is good,
rllli J.

On leaving
H00 Green they were obliged again to use colic
of an inferior quality. The few bzzfjs so liberal-
ly promised by the Directors of the Railway,
were, by mistake, taken from such as had been

found too poor for their own use, and of course ‘

were not suitable for experimenting ; yet the
journey was continued, and at times considera-
ble spced was obtained by adding coal to the
coke.——-“We had been kindly warned,” says
Mr. Ogle, “ and judiciously instructed how to
proceed on reaching the embankment at Bold-
heatl1.. Many bets were made that we could
not pass this high, soft, and shaking embank-
ment, and many scientific men deemed it the
only remaining test necessary to- proye to the
nine-!z..s.aei2ii,<2a1.,Ike.-prodigious power possessed
by us.” a

With a full supply of fuel and water, the lug-
gage of the whole company, and five persons on
board,--the others having got down to witness
the trial, and lighten the carriage,--it ascended
steadily, and passed the shaking l1’i'.lS5‘ at the
rate of full ten miles an hour. Not a voice was
heard, even the numerous workmen on the St.
Helen’s Railway stood in anxious expectation
of seeing it ‘stop, or rolldown the embankment,
-—-but no sooner was the summit gained. than a.
simultaneous shout burst from all who witness-

ed the Wonderful performance, and the carriage