MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 41 



on the same end of the axle, so that, while running on a straight line, the 

 wheels and axle- revolve together in the ordinary manner; but, upon striking 

 a. curve, they act independently, adjusting themselves, whatever the radius 

 may be, without causing the least tension on the axle. The short parts of 

 the axle can be made of cast steel with advantage the difference in coSt 

 being more than equalled by its superior durability the steel axle lasting 

 four or five times as long as one made of wrought iron. As there is no twist 

 on the main axle, it will last for many years, the short ones only wanting to 

 be renewed. In this way, the cost of axles for a term of years will be re- 

 duced nearly fifty per cent., to say nothing of the prevention of accidents, now 

 so frequent from the breakage of axles. An important feature is, that the 

 axle can be as well made from old axles, which have been worn out at the 

 journals, and can be applied to an ordinary cast wheel, or to the improved 

 wheel described as follows : The side-plates and tire are made of wrought iron ; 

 the hub is of cast iron, and consists of three parts a centre and two side 

 pieces. The side-plates will outlast several tires, which can be renewed when- 

 ever they wear out. The whole wheel can be made at a little over half the 

 cost of the ordinary wrought-iron wheel, and will save over three-quarters of 

 a ton on the weight of an eight-wheeled car. American Railway Review. 



IMPROVEMENT IN HORSE RAILROADS. 



The Cincinnati Gazette notes a new kind of rail on exhibition in that city, 

 adapted to street railroads. It is designed to dispense entirely with wooden 

 cross-ties, and can be put down at much less expense than the ordinary way. 

 The rails are joined together, and made continuous by means of a splice- 

 wedge inserted in elects about ten inches long, cast with the rail. Trenches 

 are opened in the pavement, eighteen inches wide, and from eight to twenty 

 inches deep, the bottom compacted by the use of a rammer, and the rail put 

 in. At the ends and in the middle of each rail, a block or plank, about ten 

 inches surface, rs laid crosswise of the track ; the gravel is then replaced, and 

 the pavement closed in. The weight of the rail is from eighty to one hun- 

 dred pounds per yard, and the cost per mile, when laid, from 0000 to 8000. 







ON AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF AXLE-BOXES AND COUPLING- 

 RODS FOR LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. 



The following paper was read before the Institution of Mechanical Engi- 

 neers, London, by Mr. W. A. Fairbairn : This construction of axle-box has 

 for its object the introduction of an elastic cushion or spring of vulcanized 

 india-rubber between the axle-boxes and framing of locomotive engines, for 

 the purpose of allowing the wheels to accommodate themselves to curved 

 portions of the railway, and thus diminish the wear on the flanges of the 

 wheels and on the faces of the axle-boxes. The india-rubber spring is placed 

 in recesses formed in the jaws of the horn plates upon each side of the axle- 

 box, and a metal plate, with a smooth, case-hardened surface, is interposed, 

 upon which the axle-box slides vertically with the inequalities of the road. 

 The force of the spring action of the india-rubber is made sufficient to keep 

 the axles of the wheels at right angles to the straight portions of the rail- 

 way, but to yield to the friction of the rails upon the wheels in curved por- 

 tions, and by this means to allow the axles to assume such a position as will 

 place the wheels at a tangent to the curve. The elasticity of the india-rub- 



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