Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/40



Mr. G. Garney. 3 August, 1831. How many persons will that take?—I think about 18.

What would be the weight of your Engine Carriage sufficiently powerful to draw a Carriage containing 18 persons?—The weight of the propelling Carriage would be about the weight of four horses; the weight of the Carriage drawn would be precisely that of a Carriage drawn by horses, and I find the weight of a horse to average about 10 cwt.; there fore, taking four horses at 10 cwt., the four horses would be two tons, which is somewhere about the weight of my Carriage; to do the same work, some horses weigh as much as 16 cwt., some considerably less than 10 cwt.

Have you examined the effect on the roads of the propelling wheels of your Carriage?—As far as I am enabled to judge. I should say that they did no more injury than any other Carriage of the same weight; I mean the Carriage itself, weight for weight. I have taken the loss of iron from the tires of the wheels, and compared it with that of the loss from other carriages running the same number of miles, and I found the loss the same nearly.

Do you find that the wheel never slides in the turn?—If it does, it is either imperfect or the fault of the engineer; if the steam is wire-drawn (using the technical term) it never does so; if the steam is laid on suddenly on the Engines, it acts like a percussion, and affects the wheels as if struck with a hammer; the Carriage, of course, would not be propelled in such case.

Practically, as far as you have seen in the operations of these Carriages, does the wheel slide in that way frequently?—It may sometimes at starting for an instant, but never on the road unless it is over-weighted; I mean if it has an over-weight attached to it.

Is there much smoke created by your Carriages—There is no smoke unless any smoky matter gets accidentally into the fire, the fuel being coke; of course there will be smoke if there are coals.

Are you frequently obliged to let off steam?—Yes,