Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/151



Davies Gilbert Esq. M.P. 17 August, 1831.

strengths most advantageously in different directions, and therefore practice alone can determine what precise inclination of this line is best adapted to horses, and what to oxen. These considerations are, however, only applicable to cattle drawing immediately at the Carriage; and the convenience of this draft, as connected with the insertion of the lipe of traction which continued, ought to pass through the axis of the wheels, introduces another limit to their size.

"Springs were in all likelihood applied at first to Carriages, with no other view than to accommodate travellers. They have since been found to answer several important ends. They convert all percussion into mere increase of pressure; that is, the collision of two hard bodies is changed by the interposition of one that is elastic, into a mere accession of weight. Thus the Carriage is preserved from injury, and the materials of the road are not broken: and in surmounting obstacles, instead of the whole Carriage with its load being lifted over, the springs allow the wheels to rise, while the weights suspended upon them are scarcely moved from their horizontal level. So that, if the whole of the weight could be supported on the springs, and all the other parts supposed to be devoid of inertia, while the springs themselves were very long, and extremely flexible, this consequence would clearly follow, however much it may wear the appearance of a paradox, that such a Carriage may be drawn over a road abounding in small:obstacles without agitation, and without any material addition being made to the moving power.or draft. It seems therefore probable, that under certain modifications of form and material, springs may be applied with advantage to the very heaviest waggons, and consequently, if any, fiscal regulations exist, either in regard to the public revenue or to local taxation, tending to discourage the use of springs, they should forthwith be removed.

"Although the smoothness of roads, and the application of springs are beneficial to all Carriages,