Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/36



Mr. G. Garney. 3 August, 1831. In general, were the wheels connected together, or had they an independent motion?—Always one was attached to the axle; they had no independent motion; this will be seen by reference to No. 5, on the arm or carrier of the wheel (which is a part of the axle) and can be attached to the wheel at pleasure by a bolt, making the wheel also in that case part of the axle; this Carriage. I should observe, ran to Barnet, and went up all the hills to Barnet, in 1827, with one wheel only attached to the axle, and was run for about eighteen months experimentally in the neighbourhood of London; from these experiments showing that one wheel was sufficient to propel the Carriage, and the Carriage being at the same time reduced two-thirds in weight, it was thought desirable to draw another Carriage, instead of to carry on the same; that will be seen in No. 5. This Carriage went to Bath, and over all the hills between Cranford Bridge and Bath, and returned with only one wheel attached to the axle; the other carrier by means of attachment having broken in the first onset, and not having been repaired until after its return; the Carriage was also injured slightly at Melksham, in consequence of a riot there; we waited about two days at Bath to get this injury repaired, and returned from Melksham to Cranford Bridge in ten hours, a distance of eighty-four miles, including stoppages. I have come now almost to the practical application of it; this is a drawing of the Carriages we are now building (No. 6.)

Have you made any alteration in the formation of the boilers since 1825?—We have altered and changed in the mechanism only; the principle has been invariably adhered to; the present Carriage is deprived of its chimney and a variety of other disagreeables about the Carriage.

Has your principle with respect to all remained the same!—Precisely the same.

How far have you improved the formation of your working Carriage as to weight?—The weight was a principal objection to the practical application of the Carriage; the first Carriage of a given power