Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/195



Mr. James Stone. 25 August, 1831. always the most difficult to pass over; but no accident as to the bursting of the boiler, or any other thing took place, that occasioned any unpleasantness, or any think like a serious accident as to injuring any persons. We had several little stoppages from defective tubes, of which the boiler is constructed; but nothing accrued from that, except merely stopping the progress of the Carriage.

Was the Carriage able to work with the axletree broken across?—It broke about a mile and a half from Cheltenham, and it came back all the way to Gloucester, notwithstanding the axletree being broken; one of the Engines was able to work during that time, and, of course, having only one Engine, when it came to a hill the men were obliged to assist it over the centre, as there was no momentum.

Can you state, accurately, the weight of the Carriage?—I cannot.

As far as you have observed, is the injury done to the roads by the passing of the Carriage, greater or less than that by a Carriage drawn by horses?—I think, taking the horses into the account, the injury must be much less; the tire of the wheels is three and a half inches wide, whereas many of the Stage Coaches are as heavy as the Steam Carriage, and with narrower wheels; and I think it is only fair to take the weight of the horses into the account, which I have found to be from eight to ten hundred weight each horse, consequently, four horses would weigh from a ton and a half to two tons.

You are answering now from theory; you were directed to answer from observation?—From observation. I do not think that the Steam Carriages: injure the road so much from the wheels being wider.

How frequently do you clean the tubes of the boiler?—It would be necessary to clean them once a month; I should recommend that, but if they were actually cleaned once in three months they would not give way; it depends upon the quality of the water made use of.

Is there great facility in cleaning them?—Very great; it is merely removing opposite the end of the