Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/196



Mr. James Stone. 25 August, 1831. orifice of the tube the screw-bolt; is only to withdraw the screw-bolt and introduce the cleaning rod. We are in the habit of blowing out the tubes every two or three days, to cleanse them.

What is the greatest number of passengers you have taken on that Carriage?—Thirty-six.

Thirty-six passengers and their luggage?—Yes, but being a short stage, there is never much luggage.

What do you suppose is the greatest weight you could draw by that Carriage, at the rate of ten miles an hour?—From forty to fifty hundred weight; it is found to be drawn much easier by dividing the weight into two Carriages than taking it in one only.

Do you work, on an average, at half your utmost power of working with safety to the Engine?—I should think we did.

Full half?—Yes.

Do think more than that?—It depends so much upon the state of the fire.

The question was. Do you work, on an average, at half your full power?—Yes. I should think we did. The greatest weight we ever drew on the common read, at a rate of from five to six miles an hour, was eleven tons.

Is that merely by guess, or did you actually weigh?—By weight; we made the experiment or the Bristol road.

What should you suppose to be the weight of the drawing.Carriage?—The weight of that was upwards of two tons.

Then it drew five times its own weight?—Yes, it did; the eleven tons I have stated, included the weight of the drawing Carriage; and I did not consider that the maximum power at all.

Did you ever try it at a less velocity?—No, because, in applying the greatest power, we confine both the wheels to the Engine.

Did you draw the nine tons with only the power of one wheel?—Yes.

Are you able, from the two circumstances you have mentioned, to say, that at three miles an hour you