Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/126



John Farey, Esq. 10 August, 1831. miles and half an hour, can work during eight hours out of every twenty-four hours, or he can travel twenty miles in a day. Suppose that in both cases, of horses going ten miles an hour or only two miles and a half an hour, the force of traction was the same during the time that they were actually drawing; even on that supposition, there would be the difference between twenty miles a day and fifteen miles a day in favour of slow travelling; but in considering the work performed, the great loss in the force of draught by quick travelling must be taken into account; and it will be found that a cart-horse, walking at two miles and a half an hour, could draw with a force of traction 100lbs. on an average, but that a Stage Coach-horse, running at ten miles an hour, cannot exert more than 28lbs. force of traction at an average. The above proportions of distance travelled, and force of traction exerted in each case being combined into one product, the proportion will stand thus:—20 miles a day × 100lbs. draught = 2000, to represent the work done by a horse travelling at the rate of two miles and a half an hour, and 15 miles a day x 28lbs. draught = 420, to represent the work done by a horse travelling at the rate of ten miles an hour, which is 4 to 1 in favour of a slow speed; when with Steam power there would be only a very slight difference of performance, at the quick or the slow speed.

Respecting the injury done to the roads by heavy Carriages, whether they are drawn by horses, or impelled by Steam power, you consider that weight for weight (including horses and engines as part of the weight) the one will not do more injury to the road than the other ?--In my opinion the Steam Carriages will do the least injury of the two. The horses by treading with their feet excavate and scrape out depressions in the surface of the road, that is particularly the case before the road materials are consolidated into a solid mass; and the evil of depressions or holes in the road is not merely the injury done by the feet of the horses to those particular parts of the road in which the depressions are made, but the