MECUANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 37 



the tires of road steamers forms the greatest stop which has ever 

 been made in the use of steam on common roads. It complet<dy 

 removes the two fatal difficulties which have iiitherto barred the 

 way to the use of traction en;L''ines, — namely, the nnitual dcstrnc- 

 tion of the traction engine and the roads. The India-rubber tires, 

 interposing a soft and ehistic cushion between the two, effectually 

 protect them both from every jar and jolt, — in fact, as much so 

 as if the en<rine were travelling over a tramway of India-rubber. 



A RAIL OF BESSEMER STEEL. 



In the early part of the year 1857, a steel bloom was made by 

 melting in crucibles Bessemer metal with spiegeleisen. This 

 bloom was rolled into a double-headed rail, and in the spring of 

 1857 it was laid down at Derby station. On the 21st of Decem- 

 ber, 1867, 10 3'ears and 6 months after it had been laid down, it 

 was reported to be apparently little the worse for wear. Now the 

 wear amounted to, on an average, 250 trains passing over it dailj*, 

 and a like number of transits of engines and tenders. Reckon- 

 in o^ now the weight of each train at 100 tons average, and that of 

 engines and tenders at 20 tons, we have an amount of 30,000 tons 

 per diem passing over this rail, and this continued for, say 300 

 da3's per annum, 10^ years, gives a total of 94,500,000 tons. Now 

 on the Canadian railways the iron rails are worn out by a traffic 

 ranging from 4 millions to 30 millions of tons, according to the 

 quality of the iron rails. The Derby rail, therefore, of Bessemer 

 steel, has already sustained more than three times the amount of 

 traffic which suffices to destroy the best iron rads, and, in spite of 

 this, it is still " apparently little the worse for wear." The op- 

 ponents of steel rails will argue, no doubt, that this rail is an ex- 

 ception, and was better than other Bessemer steel rails, because 

 the metal was remelted. Such, however, is not the fact, for steel 

 is always more or less deteriorated byremelting; and the rail 

 ends from Bessemer steel rails, made at Crewe, and therefore, of 

 course, the rails themselves, are of as good and as durable a 

 quality of steel as this Derby rail. — Eohert Mushet. 



WEST SIDE ELEVATED RAILWAY. 



As has been before noted in our columns, the section now com- 

 pleted, running between the Battery and Greenwich Street, was 

 built as an experiment, to test the practicability of the plan. On 

 Thursday, the legislative Commissioners and Governor Fenton 

 examined the railway, and expressed their entire approval of its 

 mode of working. 



The road is about one-half mile in length, is 14 feet in the 

 clear above street level, and is supported by cast-iron pillars 

 placed from 20 to 40 feet apart. An endless wire cable of three- 

 quarters inch diameter, carrying with it a series of small trucks 

 every 50 yards, is put in motion l)y steam-power below ground. 

 4 



