MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 59 



Hydrostatic Rail-ioay Brake. The following is a description of a hydrostatic 

 rail- way brake recently introduced upon the Shrewsbury and Hereford Rail- 

 way, England : The brakes themselves are upon the usual principle, but are 

 placed upon every carriage, instead of on one or two only. A cylinder is 

 fixed under the carriage, 4^ inches diameter and 3 inches stroke ; and in this 

 cylinder is fitted a solid piston, the rod of which is attached to the lever of the 

 brake. Into each side of the cylinder is screwed an iron tube, one inch in 

 diameter, and terminating at each end of the carriage with a joint of a novel 

 character. "When the carnages are connected, the tubes are made continuous 

 by inserting into those joints a flexible tube between each carriage ; and when the 

 engine is attached to the train, that is also connected by a flexible tube, lead- 

 ing into tubes fixed in the bottom of the tender, which tubes are merely for 

 the purposes of reducing the temperature of the water used in applying the 

 brakes. The boiler is fitted with a stop-cock near the starting lever, and 

 from this cock is a tube connected to the tubes in the tender. When a train 

 is made up, and the engine attached, a cock inside the tender is opened, and 

 the tubes throughout the train are allowed to fill themselves with water; 

 water being only compressable to the extent of one inch in the 15,000, is al- 

 ways ready to be acted upon at the moment. At the present day, locomo- 

 tives are worked at pressure of from 100 to 150 Ibs. per square inch ; but for 

 example's sake, we will take the lowest figure; therefore, with the cylinders 

 before described, a power of 1,500 Ibs. is given to each brake, no matter what 

 may be the number of carriages in the train. The cylinder to work the ten- 

 der brake is 4^- inches in diameter, with a 6 inch stroke, and gives a force of 

 3,000 Ibs. The mode of bringing the brakes into use is this: The engine 

 driver shuts off his steam, opens the cock named in boiler, and in one second 

 the whole of the brakes are on the wheels, and are taken off by the driver 

 shutting the cock in the boiler, and opening the one in the tender. 



Hick's Self-acting Switch. The switch is designed to be operated in all respects 

 like the ordinary ones, with the additional property of springing instantane- 

 ously into line when, hi consequence of any misunderstanding or carelessness, 

 a wheel approaches in the wrong direction upon the main track. This prop- 

 erty was put to a most unprecendented and almost fool-hardy test on the 27th 

 of June last, by running a train at the highest possible speed across not only 

 one but all the switches in nearly a hundred miles of track, all ([esiynedly 

 placed wrong. The Buffalo and New York City railroad, 91 miles in length, 

 had adopted this invention throughout, and over this whole line the newest 

 and smartest engine was driven with two passenger cars, accompanied by 

 some of the principal officers of the road, to observe, or rather to experience, 

 any effects which might follow a failure. Fifteen miles of this route, over 

 three of the gaping siuitches, was performed in 17 minutes ; showing a very 

 high degree of confidence in the infallibility of the invention. The principal 

 peculiarities of this switch consist in two elliptic springs, a lever, and a catch, 

 which are all to be considered as additional to the usual mechanism of a 

 switch, but increasing the cost only some 25 or 30 dollars. The heaviest of 

 these springs is just outside the track, between the rails and the switch-stand, 

 and exerts a constant effort to throw the switch into such position as to make 



