INDUSTRIAL TKOGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1873. cxxv 



ies which shall cheaply and more efficiently replace the 

 horse-cars a subject of importance at all times has received 

 during the past year a larger share of attention than it might 

 otherwise have attracted, owing to the Avidespread contagion 

 amono- the horses. The result of this condition of thino-s 

 was in one respect beneficial, inasmuch as it has brought out 

 several excellent devices for rapid transit in cities, the neces- 

 sities or advantages of which might otherwise have waited 

 Ions: for recos^nition. The so-called " fireless locomotive" is 

 an invention of this class, which is said to be in successful 

 operation in the cities of Chicago and New Orleans, and has 

 attracted during the last few months much attention from 

 the engineering press. Briefly described, it consists of a 

 boiler and the usual machinery on a small scale. To this 

 boiler, which is three fourths filled with cold water, the steam 

 for the trip is supplied before starting from a large supply- 

 boiler located at the depot. Instead, therefore, of generating 

 steam with the aid of a fire in the usual manner, a steam 

 pressure equivalent to 170 to 180 pounds is stored up in the 

 manner indicated, and thus fuel, fire, and fireman are dis- 

 pensed with. Where it has been employed it is highly 

 spoken of as a substitute for the dummy engine. Any rate 

 of speed up to twenty miles per hour can be obtained from 

 them. 



Mr. Frederick Ransome, of England, Avhose name is well 

 known to the engineering world in connection with the man- 

 ufacture of artificial stone, has but recently returned from a 

 visit to this country, the object of which was to introduce 

 his improved process, which has been so favorably commented 

 upon in England. The so-called "Ransome stone," for many 

 years largely and successfully employed in construction 

 abroad, and for some years to a slight degree introduced in 

 the United States, was made by injecting a block of sand, 

 cemented by silicated alkali, with chloride of calcium ; by 

 which an insoluble silicate of lime was formed in the interioi-, 

 thus making it extremely hard and unalterable. The result- 

 ing chloride of sodium was subsequently washed out with wa- 

 ter. To avoid the addition of chloride of calcium and subse- 

 quent washing, Mr. Ransome's new process employs suitable 

 quantities of lime, and a natural soluble silica (infusorial 

 earth), with sand and a solution of silicate of soda or potassa; 



