Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/45



Mr. G. Garney. 3 August, 1831. yards; the stop of the carriage is singular; it would be supposed that the momentum would carry it far forward, but it is not so; the steam brings it up gradually and safely, though rather suddenly.

Supposing you were going at the rate of eight miles an hour, can you say at what number of yards it would be possible to stop?—I would say within six or seven yards.

How would you manage on a declivity?—On a declivity we are well stored with apparatus; we have three different modes of dragging the Carriage.

You have stated that you found no difficulty in guiding the drawing Carriage, or any difficulty in guiding the Carriage which is drawn?—Not the least; it is peculiarly connected, so that the fore wheels of the Carriage drawn follow the tracks of the hind-wheels of the Steam Carriage drawing, although making a circle of 15 feet diameter, which is a singular property.

In what circle do you think you could turn both Carriages?—In a circle of 10 feet, the inner diameter.

Supposing you were going at the rate of eight miles an hour, in what inner circle do you suppose you could turn?—I should be very sorry to attempt to turn within a small circle; I think I might say, probably it might safely be done in one of 100 feet diameter.

In the further progress of the improvement of this description of Carriage, do you suppose that greater weight will be drawn, by adding to the number of Carriages, or by increasing the size of the one Carriage drawn?—The Carriage drawn with its load should never exceed three tons, and the Carriage to draw it should never exceed the weight I have previously stated, about two tons or 50 cwt.; it is possible to draw more than one Carriage on good roads, but I do not think it would be a circumstance of common occurrence.

What have the chief inconveniences been that you have met with on your journies?—The principal inconveniences we have met with have been minor derangements of some parts of the machinery, such as the valves of the pump being deranged, or tanks leaking, or something of that kind; I never met with any