Page:Remarks on the Present System of Road Making (1823).djvu/37

 consequence that some regulations should be adopted. The best regulations, as regard the breadth of the tire of wheels, will be found in several Acts of the Session of Parliament 1816, where Carts are required to have wheels of a cylindrical form five inches broad; and Waggon Wheels of the same form six inches broad, with an equal upright bearing. The weights will be best and most easily regulated by the number of horses, or other cattle, drawing the carriages: and this, as a regulation of economy, may be made, by the tolls at present payable on the cattle being levied in a larger ratio as the number increases.

Waggons and carts with wheels of a cylindrical form and upright bearing, running on a breadth of tire of five and six inches, cannot injure a well made road, at the slow pace with which such carriages travel; at least, in any proportion beyond the toll they pay. On the contrary, it is certain, that Stage Coaches, with their present system of loading, and velocity of travelling upon very narrow wheels, damage the roads in a much greater proportion than the compensation derived from the toll.

Every wheel, propelled by a force applied to its centre of motion, as the axis of a carriage wheel, is disposed by its specific gravity, to be