32 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



* The wear of steel shows conclusively that economy will require 

 its u.<e on all heavy <2:rades and sharp curves.' The last report of 

 the New Jersey Railway aiul Transj)()rtation Company says : * It 

 is probable that steel rails will be p^ratlually laid the entire leno^th 

 of the road, the «j:reater durability of these rails overcoming the 

 objection to their increased cost.' " — Railway Times. 



STEEL-CAPPED RAILS. 



** The invention by J. L. Booth, of Rochester, N. Y., of a 

 piocess for cappiii": iron rails with a solid cap of steel about one- 

 half or rive-eiii;hths of an inch in thickness, in the opinion of the 

 most experienced railroad men who have examined it, meets the 

 requirements of safety and durability. The rail consists of an 

 iron base with a steel cap, united to the base not by bolts, screws, 

 rivets, or weldino^, but simply iDy clampino^. The iron bar is 

 rolled of the required form and weight, after which it is passed 

 through the compressing machine, which clenches powerlully 

 upon it the heavy steel cap. The subsequent action of weight 

 upon it, as the passage over it of heavy trains, is to grip the iron 

 more and more lirmly, until the base and the cap become as firmly 

 united as if they were a single piece of metal. Over the experi- 

 mental rails laid down two years ago near the depot in Buflfalo 

 have passed 40,000 engines and 500,000 cars. The iron rails 

 adjoining opposite them have, in the interval, been six times re- 

 newed. No change is as yet observable in the steel-capped rails, 

 and to all appearance they bid fair to wear out 20 successive sets 

 of the ordinary sort. 



'* Two of the rails were also laid on the New York Central 

 Railroad, at Rochester, N. Y., June 7, 18G7. On one tiie cap 

 was loose and even rattling; on the other it was firm. They 

 were laid continuously,- and with the old style of chairs. They 

 were placed where 70 engines and trains daily passed over them 

 on the main line, and where the track was used constantly 

 for switching and making-up of trains. The rate of speed over 

 them varies. The through freight trains are frequently joined at 

 this point, three or four in one, to ascend an up-grade. They 

 pass over these rails often at the rate of 25 or 30 miles an hour. 

 The loose cap rail became tight in a very short time, and both are 

 now in perfect order. Four sets of iron rails have been completely 

 worn out, and new sets replaced, on the opposite side of the 

 track, during the period of time these duplex rails have been 

 down." 



TESTS OF STEEL RAILS. 



Messrs. John A. Griswold & Co.'s circular thus describes their 

 method of testing steel rails: 1st. A test ingot from each 5-ton 

 ladlcful of li(juid steel is hammered into a bar, and tested for mal- 

 leability and hardness, and especially for iouglmess, by bending it 

 double cold. In case any test bar falls below the standard cs- 

 Uiblished as suitable for rails, all the ingots cast from that ludleful 



