MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 87 



Boydcll's " fiery chariot," puffing continuously, as if overworked, and draw- 

 ing its baby-cultivator, as an omnibus would a boy's sled, did a tolerable 

 share of work; they all seemed to us either too expensive in construction, 

 too complicated and cumbersome, or too inefficient in performance. Boy- 

 dell's engine drew a seven-tined grubber to a depth of six inches, and in 

 going up a slight hillock or mound, was completely stopped, and could not 

 proceed until the grubber had been loosened. Smith's grubbing we thought 

 very rough work, certainly not good enough to induce us to purchase one for 

 any farm we might own; and as to Fowler's, the mere fact that he must 

 have a steam-engine to turn a drum, to wind a rope, to drag a plough, to 

 turn up a furrow, to say nothing of the necessary after-use of harrow, roller, 

 clod-crusher, and seed-drill, we thought "we would call again." 



The advocates of the Boydell machine say that if steam is to replace 

 horses, it should carry itself and the loads of horses from place to place. 

 The machine should start from its shed, dragging its complement of coals 

 and the implements of tillage, go over the farm roads to the field to be 

 ploughed, take its own position, and move about up and down furrows and 

 across headlands as required. These qualifications were, to a certain degree, 

 combined in the Boydell traction-engine; but it seemed to us that an engine 

 of 30-horse power, costing S4000 or more, should be able to draw a grubber 

 more than six inches deep without being brought up standing; and that some 

 better means of locomotion should be used than the endless succession of 

 pieces of track, like the snow-shoes of a Canadian voyageur, that were to 

 be placed under the wheel for it to turn on, to keep it from sinking in the 

 ground. 



The idea of Mr. Fawkes, for a steam travelling engine was, that it should 

 have the power applied to a large drum, bulged on the middle like a barrel; 

 and this plan constitutes the principal feature of his invention. In the 

 machine constructed and exhibited by Mr. Fawkes, during the past year, 

 the engine is a high pressure one, with an upright tubular boiler, containing 

 228 11 inch tubes, a 9-inch cylinder, and 15-inch stroke. It works a direct 

 crank-shaft, which revolves inside the sleeve of a drum-wheel, through spur 

 gearing. The drum has three iron spiders, and a heavy wooden face, which 

 is preferable to an iron face, as the latter, becoming quickly bright, slips on 

 sod ground, and thus, not only traction power is lost, but the ability to move, 

 even, is destroyed. The bed-frame of the engine rests on a two-wheeled 

 truck in front, is supported by a body-bolt, and the front wheels and truck 

 are as free to turn as the front axle of a wagon. They are steered by a rack 

 and screw connected, by a toothed chain, to a steering-wheel. 



The weight is so distributed that the water-tank behind the drum or great 

 travelling roller, when full, balances the weight of the boiler, which is placed 

 in front; hence the weight resting upon the small guide-wheels in front is 

 but little, and they are left quite free to turn. To woik the machine requires 

 two men, one to steer and attend to the engine, which he can do, as the 

 cocks, levers, etc., are placed just at his side, the other to fire and attend 

 to any odds and ends of work on the ground or elsewhere. 



The ploughs, of which there are eight employed, are the ordinary Moline 

 plough, fastened to a frame of such shape that the furrows are turned regu- 

 larly one after the other. Davits extend from the rear of the engine, and on 

 these are grooved pulleys for chains, one end of which is hooked to the 

 plough-frame, and the other is fastened to a windlass. When the engineer 

 wishes to hoist ploughs, he whistles once, and the fireman draws a lever on 



