4-0 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



Improved Railroad Track. The improvement of Mr. D. C. Grinell, of 

 New York, consists in making the track of four rails instead of two, or 

 one gauge within another. Each car has trucks of two widths, and there 

 is a double safety against running off. The weight of the locomotive being 

 borne on the double track, may also be greatly augmented, and a much 

 higher rate of speed attained than is now possible. It is estimated, that a 

 road built in this manner, might be traversed with security, at from 100 

 to 150 miles per hour. The expense would not be double that of aii 

 ordinary track, as lighter rails may be used. 



An invention of M. Gluckmami, to establish a communication between 

 the breakmen of trains by means of electricity, has lately been tried with 

 success, on the Birmingham and London Railroad. The apparatus con- 

 sists of two batteries, each one secured within a box, and placed at the 

 opposite ends of the train, connected by a wire, which passes under the 

 cars, and is joined to bells which can be set ringing whenever the attention 

 of the brakemen or conductors is required. The great merit of this in- 

 vention lies in its simplicity and rapidity of action. 



G. K. Douglas, of Chester, England, has patented some improvements 

 in the permanent way of railways. In this invention, the chair is made 

 with two pair of jaws, which are cast together in the usual manner, and 

 are sufficiently wide apart at the top, to admit the rail. Between the 

 jaws and the body of the rail is a plate, enlarged between the jaws, in 

 order to strengthen it, and another plate is held in contact with the other 

 side of the rails, by vertical wedges. These plates and wedges the inventor 

 piefers to make of cast-iron, but they may be made of wood. When the 

 wedge is of wood, it is requisite to have a hole in the chair, through which 

 the wedge can be forced when the rail has to be removed. Scientific Amer- 

 ican. 



At the late fair of the Maryland Institute, a gold medal was awarded to 

 a locomotive engine exhibited by Mr. John Cochrane, the constructing 

 engineer of the Union Iron "Works, of Baltimore. The chief peculiarities 

 of this engine consist in the use of a double set of cylinders and driving 

 apparatus, together w r ith an arrangement of the axles, whereby the motion 

 over curves is greatly facilitated. The inventor thus describes it : 



" The wheels of the Binary engine may be considered as divided into 

 two sets, viz : Front and back drivers, each set being operated by a sep- 

 arate pair of cylinders, making four cylinders in all. The pair of cylinders 

 beneath the smoke-box, operate the truck drivers by means of cranked 

 axles, and the outside pair the back drivers by means of crank pins in the 

 wheels. Each pair of cylinders, with their connections and wheels, form 

 a complete system, but are not capable of independent movement, for both 

 systems are so combined together, as to secure a simultaneous action in 

 starting, working, and stopping, and in all the various manipulations nee 

 essary to the management of the engine. This is accomplished by com- 

 bining the outer and, inner cylinder of each side respectively, by means of 



