Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/168



Mr. Alexander Gordon. 17 August, 1831. ever made a surd, (that is to say) made a slip or missed its hold of the ground, and that has so seldom happened, that I do not think it can do much more injury than any other wheel, indeed I might say none; if it does it is very trifling. You speak of the propelling wheel?—Yes.

Do you know the weight of Mr. Gurney's Carriage?—I know the weight of Mr. Gurney's Carriage from having been told. I take the weight of Mr. Gurney's present locomotive Engine when it carries six or eight persons, to be nearly as heavy as an ordinary four-horse Carriage without the weight of its horses, that is about three tons with coke, water and passengers.

Are you speaking of the comparative injury to the roads done by Mr. Gurney's Carriage and a four-horse Coach?—Yes.

Which do you think does most injury to the road?—I should think it must be the same thing, carrying a great weight on any four wheels of equal diameters and surfaces; it will amount to the same thing.

Does not that suppose that the tire is of the same width?—I take the tires to be the same.

That is independent of the four horses?—Yes.

Then the injury done by the four horses is in addition?—Yes.

Have you observed what the proportion is of the damage done by four horses drawing a Coach and the four wheels of a Coach?—I cannot say that I: have made any observation upon that further than the tear and wear of the shoes, and the tire. I have seen the ruts in a narrow road and the horses' path between them; viewing these and viewing the towing path on the side of a Canal and between the rails of a Railroad. I should think that the horses do fully more harm than the wheels.

Do you think that the action of the horses' feet on a towing-path will do more injury than on a road?—Yes; but the action of a horse's feet on a towing-path is not quite the same as when he is carrying a weight or pulling a weight directly after him. The horse hauling on a canal has a motion sideways, and