1822.] 
scending, or level road, Mr. 'Thomp- 
_son’s invention is peculiarly appli- 
cable. His method of facilitating the 
conveyance. of carriages along iron 
and wood rail-ways, tram-ways, and 
other roads, consists in the reciprocal 
action of two engines, standing at the 
extremities of a stage, or portion of 
road to be travelled over, one engine 
drawing the carriages forward in a 
direction towards itself, and along 
with them a rope from the other en- 
gine ; which rope, in its turn, pulls the 
same or other waggons, by means of 
the other engine, back again, and also 
a rope therewith; thus, by the alter- 
nately active and passive agency of 
two ropes, are the powers of fixed 
engines made to act in opposite direc- 
tions, thereby causing a road to be 
traversed both ways, by loaden or 
empty carriages, and at any desired 
speed. It is the reciprocal and inter- 
changeable application of power, as 
hath been described, which he claims 
as his invention. 
_ Upon the waggon-way from Ouston 
Colliery, in the county of Durham, 
seven miles from Newcastle, leading 
to the river Tyne, four miles below 
that place, and in length seven miles 
and a quarter, a stage has been select- 
ed, upon which this new method of 
conveyance has been put in force. 
The distance of the two engines from 
each other is 2,315 yards; the upper 
end whereof is a steep inclined plane, 
323 yards long, up which the carriages 
are drawn by the Ayton engine; and 
the remaining portion, which is 1,992 
yards, has been heretofore worked by 
ten powerful horses, the ascent of it 
being 654 feet, but not a regular accli- 
vity. The engine at the lower end 
was for the purpose of drawing loaden 
Waggons up an inclined plane, ex- 
tending 387 yards in the contrary di- 
rection, or towards the colliery. 
Six loaden waggons, coupled toge- 
ther, carrying the same number of 
Neweastle chaldrons, or 15 tons 18 
ewt. of coals, pass upward at a speed 
of 10% feet per second, or seven miles 
an hour, with the greatest ease and 
certainty, affording a dispatch by no 
means derived previously from the use 
of animal power. The two extremi- 
ties, visible to each other, are furnished 
with flags, to give alternate signals of 
the readiness of the waggons to proceed. 
When the atmosphere is hazy, and the 
ay cannot be seen, signals are made 
ONTHLY Maa. No. 373. 
New Patents and Mechanical Inventions. 
241 
by drawing forward the rope three or 
four yards, with the engine, at that 
end from which the waggons are in- 
tended to go, and which is instantly 
perceived at the other end. Andin 
the. dark (for the work is daily prose- 
cuted during five or six hours’ absence 
of light at this period of the year,) 
signals are given by a fire kept at 
each end for lighting the workmen, 
which is shut from, or opened to, the 
view of the opposite extremity by 
means of a door. A person accompa- 
nies the waggons constantly, seated in 
a chair fixed securely upon the fore 
end of one of the soles of the leading 
waggon of the set, which is easily re- 
moved from one to another. The use 
of such attendant is to disengage the 
hauling-rope from the waggons, by 
means of a spring-catch, in the event 
of any sudden emergency, such as the 
breaking of a wheel or rail, or the ha- 
zard of running down any object, the 
stage in question lying over a common. 
The methods of Blenkinsop, Chap- 
man, and Brunton, (says Mr. Thomp- 
son in his observations in the Reper- 
iory,) are grounded on principles that 
supply the means of surmounting tole- 
rably steep acclivities—all others de- 
pend on the resistance offered by the 
iron rails or plates to the surfaces of 
the wheels for the application of 
power to the purpose of locomotion ; 
and it becomes an object, conse- 
quently, in those cases, to create as 
much friction as possible at the con- 
taction of the wheels with the rails or 
plates. A quarter of an inch rise in 
every yard of way may, however, be 
considered as the greatest acclivity 
they can be rendered capable of over- 
coming with a load. The friction » 
thus occasioned, and otherwise, toge- 
ther with the movement of the ma- 
chine itself, causes so extravagant a 
dissipation of power as to leave, com- 
paratively, but a small portion effec- 
live of that which the engine really 
applies ; so that it is not safe to calcu- 
late on its yielding regularly more 
than abuut thirty-five per cent. of the 
force exerted. One supernumerary 
engine to every three, or at the most 
four, will be found necessary, together 
with the incessant and vigilant care of 
a superintending mechanic, to secure 
a tolerable degree of certainty. The 
application of fixed reciprocating en- 
gines requires no more than a single 
way ; sidings or passings being neces- 
li sary 
