Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/186



Mr. W. A. Summers. 19 August, 1831. which you throw away?—We have tried it in both Mr.W.A, ways, but we find this the most advantageous, because in those Carriages in which the steam is driven into the chimney to produce a draught, the aperture is so much diminished in order to produce velocity of current and corresponding increase of draught, that the waste steam is choaked in escaping from the engines, and produces a greater loss of power than by working the fan.

From your experience in Steam Carriages, do you, conceive that it will be necessary to make any alteration of the present roads, such as paving them for the purpose of this mode of conveyance?—No, certainly not; we have found that our vehicles will travel over every kind of road with great velocity, and up the steepest hills; from observation which I have made very minutely on the operations of the vehicle, my decided opinion is, that if the common roads were put into a tolerably good state of repair, we should be able to carry all the goods which a railway would be able to carry, and at much less expence, taking into consideration the original expence of the railway and its continued wear and tear; I believe I have from a correct source of information, that every yard, of railway loses on an average about four ounces per year in weight when it is in full operation; this loss arises from oxydation, and the action of the great numbers of wheels of the Carriages that pass over it.

Have you travelled over pavements?—Very frequently.

Did you find that your Carriage travelled with greater ease over them?_With much greater ease. Supposing you had a pavement to run on, what increase of power should you gain by running on that rather than on a common Macadamized road?—We find that when we are travelling on a rough bad pavement we do not consume more than one-fourth of the steam we do on a gravelly soft road.

You conceive you increase your power 3-4 on a paved road?—Yes.

What steepness of hill have you ever ascended?—