A Treatise Upon Elemental Locomotion, and Interior Communication, Wherein are Explained and Illustrated, the History, Practice, and Prospects of Steam Carriages: And the Comparative Value of Turnpike Roads, Railways, and Canals

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T. Tegg & Son, 1834 - Communication and traffic - 326 pages
 

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Page 16 - It can engrave a seal, and crush masses of obdurate metal like wax before it — draw out, without breaking, a thread as fine as gossamer, and lift a ship of war like a bauble in the air. It can embroider muslin, and forge anchors, cut steel into ribands, and impel loaded vessels against the fury of the winds and waves.
Page 268 - There is a principle in human society, by which population is perpetually kept down to the level of the means of subsistence.
Page 189 - On a paved road ............... „2 On a well-made broken stone road, in a dry clean state . . . „5 On a well-made broken stone road, covered with dust ... „8 On a well-made broken stone road, wet and muddy . . . . „ 10 On a gravel or flint road, in a dry clean state ...... „13 On a gravel or flint road, in a wet muddy state .....
Page 321 - Sufficient evidence has been adduced to convince your committee — 1. That carriages can be propelled by steam on common roads at an average rate of ten miles per hour. 2. That at this rate they have conveyed upwards of fourteen passengers.
Page 276 - Carriages could ultimately be brought to such perfection as entirely to supersede draught horses on the common roads, there would be food and demand for eight millions of persons. But when we take further into consideration, that lowering the expense of carriage would enable us to extend cultivation over soils which cannot now be profitably tilled, and would have the further effect of enabling us to apply, with a profit, additional portions of labour and capital to the soils already under tillage,...
Page 321 - ... tons. 4. That they can ascend and descend hills of considerable inclination with facility and safety. 5. That they are perfectly safe for passengers. 6. That they are not (or need not be if properly constructed) nuisances to the public. 7. That they will become a speedier and cheaper mode of conveyance than carriages drawn by horses. 8. That...
Page 311 - M'Neil, shewing the greater efficiency with diminished expenditure of fuel by locomotive engines on railways, convinces the Committee that experience will soon teach a better construction of the engines, and a less costly mode of generating the requisite supply of steam. " Nor are the advantages of steam-power confined to the greater velocity attained, or to its greater cheapness than horse-draught.
Page 275 - ... surplus constitutes the encouragement to agriculture. For example, if it requires the expenditure of two hundred quarters of corn to raise four hundred, and the expenditure of one hundred more on carriage, to bring the four hundred to market, then the net surplus will be one hundred. " 'If, by the substitution of Steam...
Page 316 - ... road, and thus raise a perpetual resistance to their own progress, it actually becomes an advantage to adopt that form which is least injurious to the road. The proprietors who have been examined on this point, seem to be quite indifferent as to the breadth of tire they may be required to use. " These considerations have convinced the Committee, that the tolls enforced on...
Page 320 - As speed, therefore, is the cause of greatly increased expense where horses are used, while with steam it is comparatively unimportant, it is probable that the latter will be chiefly resorted to when rapidity of conveyance is required. Mr. Gurney considers, that, under four miles per hour, horses can be used in draught more economically than steam. Should it, however, be deemed profitable to convey heavy goods by steam carriages, the committee recommend that there should be as little interference...

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