(207.)

Mr. Nathaniel Ogle of Southampton obtained a patent for a locomotive carriage, and worked it for some time experimentally; but as his operations do not appear to have been continued, I suppose he was unsuccessful in fulfilling those conditions, without which the machine could not be worked with economy and profit. In his evidence before a committee of the House of Commons, he has thus described his contrivance:—

"The base of the boiler and the summit are composed of cross pieces, cylindrical within and square without; there are holes bored through these cross pieces, and inserted through the whole is an air tube. The inner hole of the lower surface, and the under hole of the upper surface, are rather larger than the other ones. Round the air tube is placed a small cylinder, the collar of which fits round the larger aperture on the inner surface of the lower frame, and the under surface of the upper frame-work. These are both drawn together by screws from the top; these cross pieces are united by connecting pieces, the whole strongly bolted together; so that we obtain, in one tenth of the space, and with one tenth of the weight, the same heating surface and power as is now obtained in other and low-pressure boilers, with incalculably [Pg439] greater safety. Our present experimental boiler contains 250 superficial feet of heating surface in the space of 3 feet 8 inches high, 3 feet long, and 2 feet 4 inches broad, and weighs about 8 cwt. We supply the two cylinders with steam, communicating by their pistons with a crank axle, to the ends of which either one or both wheels are affixed as may be required. One wheel is found to be sufficient, except under very difficult circumstances, and when the elevation is about one foot in six to impel the vehicle forward.

"The cylinders of which the boiler is composed are so small as to bear a greater pressure than could be produced by the quantity of fire beneath the boiler; and if any one of these cylinders should be injured by violence, or any other way, it would become merely a safety valve to the rest. We never, with the greatest pressure, burst, rent, or injured our boiler; and it has not once required cleaning, after having been in use twelve months."

Dr. Church of Birmingham has obtained a succession of patents for contrivances connected with a locomotive engine for stone roads; and a company, consisting of a considerable number of individuals, possessing sufficient capital, has been formed in Birmingham, for carrying into effect his designs, and working carriages on his principle. The present boiler of Dr. Church is formed of copper. The water is contained between two sheets of copper, united together by copper nails, in a manner resembling the way in which the cloth forming the top of a mattress or cushion is united with the cloth which forms the bottom of it, except that the nails or pins, which bind the sheets of copper, are much closer together. The water, in fact, seems to be "quilted" or "padded" in between two sheets of thin copper. This double sheet of copper is formed into an oblong rectangular box, the interior of which is the fire-place and ash-pit, and over the end of which is the steam-chest. The great extent of surface exposed to the immediate action of the fire causes steam to be produced with great rapidity.

Various other projects for the application of steam engines on common roads were in a state of progressive improvement, [Pg440] when the greater advantages attending railways were considered so manifest, that considerable doubts were raised, whether, supposing the problem of the application of the steam engine on common roads to be successfully solved, it could ever be attended with the same economy and effect, as by the adoption of a railway. Among the projects which promised a successful issue, may be mentioned the locomotive engines contrived by Messrs. Maudslay and Field, by Colonel Maceroni, and by Mr. Scott Russell. These and others have, however, been abandoned, mainly, we believe, from the impression, that wherever traffic can exist, sufficiently extensive to render the application of steam power profitable, a railway must always supersede a common road; and that, even in the limited traffic to be expected on branches to the great railways, horse power applied to railways would be attended with more economy than steam power applied on stone roads.