[33] I am indebted to the enlarged edition of Tredgold on the Steam Engine, published by Mr. Weale, for the drawings of this engine. The details of the machine are very fully given in that work, the description of them being supplied by Mr. Stephenson himself.
[34] See Table of Pressures, Temperatures, and Volumes, in appendix.
[CHAP. XII.]
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES ON TURNPIKE ROADS.
RAILWAYS AND STONE ROADS COMPARED.—MR. GURNEY'S STEAM ENGINE.—CONVENIENCE AND SAFETY OF STEAM CARRIAGES.—HANCOCK'S STEAM ENGINE.—OGLE'S STEAM ENGINE.—TREVETHICK'S INVENTION.—DR. CHURCH'S STEAM ENGINE.
(203.)
But besides the greater smoothness of railways compared with stone roads, the latter have another disadvantage, the effects of which have probably been exaggerated by those who are opposed to this application of steam-power. One of the [Pg421] laws of adhesion long since developed by experiment, and established as a principle of practical science, is that the adhesion is greater between surfaces of the same than between surfaces of a different kind. Thus between two metals of the same kind, the adhesion corresponding to any given pressure is greater than between two metals of different kinds; between two metals of any sort the adhesion is greater than between metal and stone, or between metal and wood. Hence, the wheels of steam-carriages running on a railroad have a greater adhesion with the road, and therefore offer a greater resistance to slip round without the advance of the carriage, than wheels would offer on a turnpike road; for on a railroad the iron tire of the wheel rests in contact with the iron rail, while on a common road the iron tire rests in contact with the surface of stone, or whatever material the road may be composed of. Besides this, the dust and loose matter which necessarily collect on a common road, when pressed between the wheels and the solid base of the road, act somewhat in the manner of rollers, and give the wheels a greater facility to slip than if the road were swept clean, and the wheels rested in immediate contact with its hard surface. The truth of this observation is illustrated on the railroads themselves, where the adhesion is found to be diminished whenever the rails are covered with any extraneous matter, such as dust or moist clay. Although the adhesion of the wheels of a carriage with a common road, however, be less than those of the wheels of a steam-carriage with a railroad, yet still the actual adhesion on turnpike roads is greater in amount than has been generally supposed, and is quite sufficient to propel carriages drawing after them loads of large amount.
The relative facility with which carriages are propelled on railroads and turnpike-roads equally affects any moving power, whether that of horses or steam engines; and whether loads be propelled by the one power or the other, the railroad, as compared with the turnpike-road, will always possess the same proportionate advantage; and a given amount of power, whether of the one kind or the other, will always perform a quantity of work less in the same proportion on a [Pg422] turnpike-road than on a rail-road. But, on the other hand, the expense of original construction, and of maintaining the repairs of a rail-road, is to be placed against the certain facility which it offers to draught.