A History of the Growth of the Steam-EngineThurston, Robert Henry
History
A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine
Thurston, Robert Henry
Steam-engines -- History
The following is a summary of the conclusions deduced by the author
from the trial, and published in the _Journal of the Franklin
Institute_: A traction-engine may be so constructed as to be easily
and rapidly man[oe]uvred on the common road; and an engine weighing
over 5 tons may be turned continuously without difficulty on a circle
of 18 feet radius, or even on a road but little wider than the length
of the engine. A locomotive of 5 tons 4 hundredweight has been
constructed, capable of drawing on a good road 23,000 pounds up a
grade of 533 feet to the mile, at the rate of four miles an hour; and
one might be constructed to draw more than 63,000 pounds up a grade of
225 feet to the mile, at the rate of two miles an hour.
It was further shown that the coefficient of traction with
heavily-laden wagons on a good macadamized road is not far from .04;
the traction-power of this engine is equal to that of 20 horses; the
weight, exclusive of the weight of the engine, that could be drawn on
a level road, was 163,452 pounds; and the amount of fuel required is
estimated at 500 pounds a day. The advantages claimed for the
traction-engine over horse-power are: no necessity for a limitation of
working-hours; a difference in first cost in favor of steam; and in
heavy work on a common road the expense by steam is less than 25 per
cent. of the average cost of horse-power, a traction-engine capable of
doing the work of 25 horses being worked at as little expense as 6 or
8 horses. The cost of hauling heavy loads has been estimated at 7
cents per ton per mile.
Such engines are gradually becoming useful in steam-ploughing. Two
systems are adopted. In the one the engine is stationary, and hauls a
"gang" of ploughs by means of a windlass and wire rope; in the other
the engine traverses a field, drawing behind it a plough or a gang of
ploughs. The latter method has been proposed for breaking up
prairie-land.
Thus, thirty years after the defeat of the intelligent, courageous,
and persistent Hancock and his coworkers in the scheme of applying the
steam-engine usefully on the common road, we find strong indications
that, in a new form, the problem has been again attacked, and at least
partially solved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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