Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/141



Mr. Richard Trevithick. 17 August, 1831. Gazettes. In reply to the question put to me by the Committee of the House of Commons, respecting the probable progress of Steam power for locomotive purposes. I beg to say, on Railroads they have been proved to be useful to a certain extent, but are still defective, on account of their great weight of machinery and water, and the difficulty of getting water at all times, also a want of permanent safety against explosion; but, from a late improvement of mine, these obstacles are now removed, and when these late improvements are combined with my former locomotive Engines, they can be constructed so light as to travel at almost any speed, and thousands of miles, without a supply of water, and the risk of exploding is reduced to an impossibility, with a saving of considerably above fifty per cent, in fuel; all those improvements will appear in my statement hereafter. Travelling on common turnpike roads would be by far the greatest national advantage, but which, on the present plan, never can be accomplished, because the difficulties of getting a supply of water, and the inequalities of the surface of the roads, will always, under these circumstances, prevent the limited power to ascend the hills; and this objection is irremoveable, because, as the power at present increases, the weight increases in nearly the same ratio. At the present moment we have a proof of this, from the Engines travelling on common level roads being as nearly as possible in equilibrium, their power just capable of running their own weight at a fair speed, on a level surface; and they now only wait an increase of their power, independent of weight, to accomplish their general adaption to every purpose, both on the road and also to agriculture, and as the expence of fuel bears so small a proportion to horse labour, the removal of the present objections would accommodate their general use to unlimited advantages that the public are anxiously in search of. As the axles of Steam Carriages require to be straight, and the wheels perpendicular, there remains no objection to employing any width of wheel that the Road Inspectors require, which, to a certain extent, will reduce the resistance, instead of increasing it.