Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/64



Mr. G. Gurney. 5 August, 1831. therefore the full power of the Engine is not necessary to be exerted: in deep snow, there certainly is great difficulty; but I have no doubt that as the subject goes on improving, all those practical difficulties will be overcome.

The difficulty would be greater in your Carriage than in other Carriages, would it not?—I think not; I think the Carriage might be so constructed as to remove the difficulty.

Will you state the effect of ice below, and snow above, upon the action of your Carriages?—I have had occasion, in two or three instances, to use the Carriage under those circumstances, with a view of judging of the practical result of it; and I have not found any difficulty in its progress. The snow is pressed strongly under the wheel, becomes almost immoveable, and furnishes a good fulcrum for the wheel; a little preparation only is necessary, and a very little is sufficient to overcome any moderate obstacle of that kind. May I be allowed to give in to the Committee a scale of what I conceive to be an equitable toll on Steam Carriages? It is the same in principle as I gave in on my last examination, but is extended.

To what width could you extend the tire, without any inconvenience to the working of your Carriage?—At present I cannot say to what limit it may be carried, but six inches would be no inconvenience.

Then your Carriage would go with six inches tire?—I think so; and under certain circumstances easier, where the crust of the road is hard.

Would not that depend very much upon the road?—It would; I would state general principles: I would submit to the consideration of the Committee, better to explain my meaning, that it frequently happens that a frost forms a crust sufficiently hard to support the weight of a Carriage a ton weight, but that it breaks under one or two tons; the power required to draw two Carriages respectively so circumstanced is so great, that I can give you no data for estimates off-hand; but it is evident, that the power of drawing a