No. 1. 



Atmospheric Rail-may. 



35 



Atmospheric Rail-way. 



While steam was apparently having the field to 

 itself in relation to rapidity of travel, electricity 

 comes in, and runs ahead of all calculations, in its 

 faithful transmission of intelligence by maciiinery. 

 Latterly ihere is considerable interest manifested in 

 England, on the subject of atmospheric Rail-ways. 

 We give below, a tolerably lucid description of this 

 contrivance from the Westminster Review. In Minor's 

 Railroad Journal for the present month, is an article 

 of considerable length, being the main part of an Essay 

 on the adaptation of atmospheric pressure to the pur- 

 poses of locomotion on Rail-ways, accompanied by 

 very neat drawings illustrative of the working of the 

 machinery. That there should be much diversity of 

 opinion among professional men in relation to the 

 Jiractical operation of the atmospheric system, is not 

 at all surprising. Time and experience will test the 

 whole matter. The Rail-road Journal shows that a 

 saving in England, of upwards of X-22,000 per mile, 

 may be made in the construction of the atmospheric, 

 instead of the common Rail- way; and that the trans- 

 portation which will cost by locomotive power more 

 than X-1,000, need cost on the atmospheric way, 

 but about jE1,600. The Journal of the Franklin In- 

 stitute, for last month, meanwhile, gives an article 

 from the London Rail-way Magazine, demonstrating 

 that what costs on the Great Western Railroad but 

 JE357, and on that of London and Birmingham £575, 

 will cost on the atmospheric road, £1,300.— Ed. 



The speed of the atmospheric mode of 

 travelling, as far exceeds that of the loco- 

 motive plan, as the locomotive speed exceeds 

 that of the stage-coaches; this mode also 

 reduces the expenses one half, which the 

 locomotive system does not, it being- as ex- 

 pensive, or more so, than the coaches. To 

 describe the atmospheric rail-way in all its 

 detail, would occupy more space than we 

 can devote to the subject, neither would 

 such a description suit the general reader; 

 the following particulars must therefore 

 suffice: — Along the entire line, and between 

 the rails, runs a pipe, which, on the Kings- 

 ton and Dalkey line, is fifteen inches inside 

 diameter. Along the entire length of this 

 pipe is a slit or opening, through which a 

 bar passes, connecting a piston, — which 

 moves freely in the pipe — with the carriage 

 outside. The opening at the top of the pipe 

 is covered witli a leather strap, extending 

 the whole length of the pipe, and two inches 

 broader than the opening. Under and over 

 this leather strap are riveted iron plates, the 

 top ones twelve inches long, and half an 

 inch broader than the opening, the bottom 

 ones narrower than the opening in the pipe, 

 but the .same length as those of the top. 

 One edge of the leather is screwed firmly 

 down, like a common bucket-valve, and 

 forms a hinge, on which it moves. The 

 other edge of the valve falls into a groove ; 



this groove or trough is filled with a compo- 

 sition made of bees'-wax and tallow, well 

 worked by hand, so as to make it pliable 

 and tough before spreading it in the groove; 

 this composition being pressed tiglit against 

 the edge of the leather valve which rests in 

 the groove, makes the valve air-tight, or at 

 least sufficiently so for all practical purposes. 

 As the piston is moved along the pipe by 

 the pressure of the atmosphere, that side of 

 the valve resting on the groove is lifted up 

 by an iron roller fixed on the same bar to 

 which the piston is att^iched, thus clearing 

 an opening for the bar to pass as it moves 

 along. The opening thus made allows the 

 air to pass freely behind the piston ; tlie dis- 

 turbance which takes place in the composi- 

 tion by the lifting of the valve, is again 

 smootlied down and rendered air-tight, as at 

 first, by a hot iron running on the top of the 

 composition after the valve is shut down. 

 This has actually been done when the piston 

 was travelling at the rate of seventy miles 

 per hour, and it was smoothed down air- 

 tight, after it, by the iron above nientioned. 

 It is contemplated to place stationary engines 

 along the line, about three miles apart ; at 

 each engine or station there is an equilibri- 

 um valve fixed in the pipe, so that each 

 three miles or section of pipe can either be 

 exhausted or filled with air, independently 

 of the other sections. The equilibrium valve 

 is made to move freely, out of the way of 

 the piston, by the carriage while passing 

 over it, so that the train passes from one 

 section of pipe to anotiier, without any stop- 

 page. It is evident, that as the tractive 

 force is derived from the pressure of the at- 

 mosphere on the piston, the amount of the 

 force or pressure will depend upon two 

 causes, i. e., the extent of exhaustion on 

 one side of the piston, and the area of the 

 piston itself 



To MAKE BLUE-WASH FOR WALLS. Get a 



pound of blue vitriol from a drug store, and 

 have it powdered in a mortar. Provide also, 

 two quarts of lime. Take six cents worth 

 of glue, boil it in a quart of soft water till 

 thoroughly dissolved. Put the powdered 

 vitriol in a wooden bucket, and when the 

 glue- water is cold, pour it on the vitriol, mix 

 and stir it well. When the vitriol is dis- 

 solved in the glue-water, stir in by degrees 

 the two quarts of lime. Try the colour by 

 dipping in a piece of white paper, and when 

 dried, you can judge if the colour is as blue 

 as you want. If too pale, stir in a little 

 more powdered vitriol. It is well to pro- 

 vide an extra quantity of each of the arti- 

 cles, in case a little more of one or the other 

 should be required. — N. England Farmer. 



