180

■RAILWAY CARRIAGES, LOCOMOTIVES, See. —AWARDS.

[Class V.

which is said to have been traversed without accident bythe trains of M. Arnoux daily, at a speed of from sixteento eighteen miles an hour, since the month of June1846 *

Various models of atmospheric railway apparatus areexhibited; none of which probably will remove that un-favourable impression to this principle of locomotionwhich recent experiments on a large scale have created.

The construction of railway carriages admits of greatimprovement, a fact to which the attention of inventorsis obviously directed. In the construction of railwaywaggons, the use of corrugated iron has been introduced;and cast steel for the construction of railway springsappears to be coming into more extended use. Severalbeautiful specimens of this manufacture from the Con-tinent, as well as from Great Britain, have been exhi-bited.

To maintain a great speed, the first requisite in a loco-motive engine is great evaporating power, and to obtainthis there must be a large surface of metal exposed to theaction of the heat on the one side, and of the water onthe other. This is obtained by Mr. Stephenson’s admi-rable expedient of a series of tubes which traverse theboiler, conveying the heated air from the furnace to theohimney; by which expedient the absorption of the heatfrom the air, heated by the fire, into the water, is made toextend over a greater surface than by any other.

Awards in Section E.

No. 512, p. 238. See Illustrations , p. 234. Intheenginecalled the “ Liverpool,” patented by Mr. T. R. Cramptox,to which the Jury recommends the award of the CouncilMedal, a heated surface of uo less than 2,136 square feetis obtained by means of the tubes, besides the surfaceexposed to the direct action of the heat in the furnace,which measures 154 square feet. The evaporation result-ing from this vast amount of heated surface is stated toyield a steam-power equivalent to that of 1,140 horses.

It is a second condition of great speed in locomotiveengines, that the piston should make the fewest possiblenumber of strokes whilst the engine traverses a givenspace; for which purpose the driving-wheels must be thelargest possible. By bringing these from the positionthey have been accustomed to occupy (near the middle ofthe boiler) to the foot-board of the furnace, Mr. Cramptonhas succeeded in giving to the driving-wheels of hisengine, the “ Liverpool,” a diameter of 8 feet.

It is a further advantage in the use of large driving-wheels, that for a given velocity of the engine, theydiminish the angular velocity of the wheel, thus dimi-nishing the tendency of the wheel to jump, by reason ofits centrifugal force when the crank is not truly balanced,fa tendency which, before the attention of engineers wascalled to the necessity of balancing the crank, was fruitfulin accidents. The same expedient by which Mr. Cramp-ton obtains space for larger driving-wheels, enables himto place the boiler lower, and thus—giving a lower positionto the centre of gravity of his locomotive—to increase itsstability.

The Jury award Prize Medals to the following:—

No. 509, p. 238. George England and Co., HatehamIronWorks, New Cross. Improved locomotive engine forrailways of light traffic, weighing, with coke and water,ten tons. The centre of gravity is low, and a good mode

of M. Arnoux from competition for the prizes awarded bythe Jury of Class Y. is made rather according to the letterthan the spirit of our instructions.

* A pair of guide-wheels placed at an inclination of45 degrees to the vertical on the first carriage of the train,and a similar pair on the last, compel these to take and tokeep the curved line of the rail. The wheels of the inter-mediate carriages are not, as in other railway-carriages,fixed, but loose upon their axles. The axles turn on centralpivots, and each axle is made to take the proper position forturning the curve, by a pole which grasps it by two arms onopposite sides of the pivot, and slides upon it laterally, andwhich is fixed to the next carriage in the train, or to theaxle of the next pair of wheels in the same carriage.

t Or from the momentum of the conneciing rod, &c., asat every revolution it ascends.

has been adopted of heating the water before it is pumpedinto the boiler. The driving-wheels of engines so lightas this, require to be very truly balanced, or their weightshould be very small in comparison with the engine, thatthey may travel with safety. The award is made foringenious arrangement and good workmanship.

No. 510, p. 237. W. Bridges Adams, 1 Adam Street,

1 Adelphi, London . 1. A light locomotive engine coupled! to a four-wheeled carriage which supports the end of the! engine in case of accident. The engiue carries waterj beneath the floor, and has a sledge break. 2. An eight-, wheeled double railway-carriage for first and second-class| passengers.

The award is made for combination and arrangementI in the .locomotive, for the break, which is well executed,

\ and for good proportions and workmanship in the car-j riage.

| No. 506. The Great Western Railway Company.j Locomotive engine and tender, constructed at the Com-I pany’s Works at Swindon . One of the ordinary class of' engines, manufactured by this Company for passengertraffic since 1847. It is capable of taking a passenger-train, of 120 tons, at an average speed of 60 miles perhour, upon easy gradients. The evaporation of the boiler,when in full work, is equal to 1,000-horse power—theeffective power, as measured by a dynamometer, is said tobe equal to 743-horse power. The weight of the engiue,empty, is 31 tons; coke and water, 4 tons—engine inworking order, 35 tons. Tender empty, 9 tons; water,1,600 gallons, 7 tons 3 ewt.; coke, 1 ton lOcwt.: total,17 tons 13 ewt.

The heating surfaces are, fire-box, 156 feet; 305 tubes,1,759 feet.—Diameter of cylinder, 18 inches; length ofstroke, 24 inches; diameter of driving-wheel, 8 feet;maximum pressure of steam, 120 lbs. The actual con-sumption of fuel in practice, with an average load of 90tons, and speed of 29 miles, including stoppages (ordinarymail train), has averaged 20* 8 lbs. of coke per mile. Theaward is made for good proportion of parts and superiorworkmanship.

No. 536, p. 240, and Illustrations , p. 241. R. and W.Hawthorn, Newcastle-upon-Tyne . First-class passengerlocomotive engine. The award is made for a good ar-rangement of parts, and for an improved link motion.

No. 534. p. 240, and Illustration, p. 1078. Kitsox,Thompson, and IIkwitson, Leeds. A locomotive tankengine. The award is made for good workmanship.

No. 473 (Prussia). Piepknstock and Co., Iloerde,near Dortmund, Inventors and Manufacturers. Discwheel and hollow axle for railways. The wheel consistsof a single disc of wrought iron, fitted accurately to theaxle and the tire by turning. On the end of the axle andin the inside of the tire, flanges are formed, and the discbeing dropped into its place, as the lid of a tin box wouldbe dropped into its rim, is then secured to these twoflanges with rivets parallel with the axle. Hence there isno tendency to draw or loosen the rivets, nor are they ex-posed to any wear or injury when the wheel is revolving.The axle being made tubular, has its stiffness considerablyincreased, without any corresponding increase of weight.The -whole presents an arrangement in which greatstrength and firmness are obtained without additionalexpenditure of material.

No. 555, p. 242. J. Spencer and Son, Neweastle-on-Tyne. Baillie’s patent volute springs. These springs aremade of a long plate of steel coiled spirally round a centre,so as to present an outline somewhat like the fusee of awatch. The base being supported, any force applied atthe summit tends to force this inwards, and to bring thespring into the form of a flat coil. Several applicationsof these to the purposes of bearing-springs, buffer-springs,and draw-bar springs are shown.

No. 636, p. 246, and Illustrations. G. B. Tjiorxey-croft and Co., Wolverhampton, Inventors and Manufac-turers. Specimens of Brigg’s patent compound axle, tire,and rails. The distinguishing principle of the constructionof these parts is the forming them of two different cha-racters of iron adapted respectively to the kind of deteriora-tion to which each part is liable, and the strain to whichit is subjected. Thus, in the wheel tire, the centre of the