Check for Carriage H^heels on Rail-Roads. 263 



made use of in their experiments, is much better adapted 

 than fro^s for determining minute Galvanic effects. 



XLII. Description of a Check for Carriage H^heelson Rail- 

 Roads. By Mr. Charles Le Caan, tf Llanelli/, Car- 

 marthenshire *. 



GENTLEMEN, 



X he model of a rail-road waggon and check or stop, 

 which I have this day the honour of presenting to you, I 

 trust on examination will be found to possess the means of 

 preventing those various accidents which have from time to 

 time proved fatal to the horses employed in such service, 

 particularly where the declivity is from twelve to sixteen 

 inches to the chain, and the trade on such road principally 

 descending. 



The use of a horse employed on a fail-road is as frequently 

 to check the velocity of a waggon or waggons loaded, (ge- 

 nerally to the weight of two tons and a half each) so as that 

 they may not exceed a certain degree of motion, as well as 

 to draw them on such parts of the road as approach near 

 upon or quite to a level. When the horse finds himself 

 pressed upon beyond his power of resistance ; to relieve 

 himself, he is compelled to quicken his pace, by which 

 means the velocity of the waggon exceeds any government 

 during the continuance of the declivity which gave it such 

 action : under such circumstances, the least trip of the horse 

 terminates in a fall, by which, from the. formation of a rail- 

 or tram-road, the animal becomes injured notwithstanding 

 tvery manual exertion. For the preservation of that valu- 

 able animal, and as a preventive to all such accidents in 

 future, I turned my thoughts to the invention of the simple 

 check or stop now before you, and which may be appropri- 

 ated to carriages in general use. 



As the utility of rail-roads daily increases in the opinion 



• From Transactions of lite Society of Arts, &c. 1806; — Ten guineas were 

 voted to Mr. Le Caan for this invention, a model of wluj:h is preserved in the 

 Society's Repository for the inspection of the public. 



i\ 4 Of 



