Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/184



Mr. W. A. Summers. 19 August, 1831. What is the thickness of the iron?—About onetenth of an incb; thin boilers last longer in proportion than thick ones, because the heat sooner passes through into the water, and has not time to act upon the iron.

For what period do you conceive that it is calculated to last?—From having had twelve months' experience. I should say it would last very well two years and a half.

During what portion of the twelvemonth was the Engine in actual operation?—It has not been in constant operation every day; but we have been in the habit of going out four days out of six, and working from eight in the morning till seven or eight o'clock at night: the boiler is not at all injured, it is in the same state in which it was when first put into the vehicle; neither have we had any accident with the machinery, contrary to the opinion of almost every engineer who saw the vehicle before it left London; the vibration or jar being much less on common roads than on a railway, and the whole of our machinery being suspended on springs; the Engines work as smoothly as if they were fixed on the firmest foundation.

Where are the passengers placed, in reference to the boiler?—They are placed in front and in the middle of the vehicle, and the boiler is entirely behind the body of the Carriage and the passengers.

You are frequently in the habit of passing horses?—Yes.

Do you find that they are frightened?—I have occasionally observed them shy, as they sometimes do at a wheelbarrow; but we never had any accident from horses being alarmed.

Do you find it less now than at the commencement of your experiments?—Certainly.

Is there a peculiar noise attends the motion of your Engine?—The noise is not so great as in a vehicle drawn by horses.

Is there any peculiar noise from the escape of your steam?—I cannot say that there is no noise at all;