250 Observations upoTi Wheel-Carriage Experiments. 



eepting that one is supported upon wooden springs, and the 

 other without springs, shall be compared, and the relative ad- 

 vantage of their draught shall be ascertained. 



Observations tipon Wheel- Car ringe Experiments^ conducted by 

 Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Esq. at Leinsier House, 

 On the 2'2d ^pril, 1815. Agreeably to the Arrangement of 

 the annexed Syllabus printed for that occasion. 



Experiment the First; see the preceding Syllabus. — The 

 practical experience of all counties of Ireland, for many years, 

 has happily proved the superiority of the dray or cart, excepting 

 where bye-roads are too narrow for carts, or too uneven for any 

 carriage but such as have their wheels so fixed, that the axle 

 and wheels must turn together in the manner of the older Irish 

 car, a construction very well suited to the state of the roads in 

 the age in which it was invented : — this experiment was neg- 

 lected, I suppose, as unnecessary. 



Experiment II. III. and IV. — These three experiments I shall 

 consider as one between two carriages to determine the effects 

 of springs. 



That advantage has been derived from the use of springs to 

 carriages, with respect to lessening their draught, has been prac- 

 tically proved by many years experience in almost all countries. 

 Carriages for burden on two wheels with springs are commonly 

 used in the populous parts of England ; in London hundreds of 

 such carts are daily to be met with. It would however be im- 

 portant to ascertain the precise weight of additional loading 

 that can be carried in this manner ; and if the subject tvere to 

 le considered more immediately in an agricultural point of 

 view, it would be judicious to determine luhat sort of spring is 

 lest calculated to'answer this fjurpose, and best able to bear the 

 rough treatment of careless and ignorant labourers — but here I 

 am exceeding the bounds of the syllabtis before me. 



Prior to drawing any conclusion, from the occurrences of the 

 22d of April, with respect to the use of springs, it is incumbent 

 upon me to endeavour to calculate the effects of the unobserved 

 circumstances, that appear to have baffled the exertions of the 

 gentleman conducting those experiments, to whose patriotic 

 energv for many years the public is much indebted. It is rea- 

 sonable to begin with a scrutiny of the nature of the unnecessary 

 \ycight of the unwieldy bodies of the carriages chosen in this 

 case, and of their other weights, in my opinion, very erroneously 

 called equalizing weights. 



It appears from the subsequent statement of the weights of 

 the several partes of the carriages, that these unwieldy bodies 



and 



