Book IV. 



WAGGONS. 



433 



392 



permitting the carriage to descend with the greatest ease and safety in the most moun- 

 tainous countr)\ It may be applied to any kind of 

 road, and is not subject to the inconvenience of lock- 

 ing poles, which, on rough roads, among loose stonea 

 or deep ruts, are very apt to overturn carts by the 

 sudden resistance they meet with. Deep ruts, or 

 loose stones, have not been found to lessen the ad- 

 vantages of this drag." (Smith's Compend. of Practical 

 Inventions, p. 322.) 



2761. The improved quarry cart has a bend in its iron axle, which brings it within 

 fourteen inches of the ground, although moving on wheels more than five feet high. ' In 

 the ease with which it is drawn, loaded, and unloaded, it is superior to the common cart 

 in the proportion of seven to three, 



2762. The three-wheeled cart is a low machine, on wheels about two feet in diameter, 

 the third wheel placed in the middle before, and generally of smaller size than the two 

 others. It is used for conveying earth or gravel to short distances, as in canal and road 

 making ; and for these purposes it is a most valuable machine, and in very general use. 



SuBSECT. 2. Waggons. 



2763. Waggons constructed in different forms, and of various dimensions, are made 

 use of in different districts of the kingdom ; and for the most part without much 

 attention to the nature of the roads, or of the articles which are to be conveyed by them ; 

 being, in general, heavy, clumsy, and inconvenient. Waggons require much more 

 power in the draught than carts, and are far from being so handy and convenient, which 

 is certainly an objection to them, though they carry a much greater load. There can be 

 no doubt that more work may be done in any particular time, with the same number of 

 horses, by carts than by waggons, in the general run of husbandry business, especially 

 where the distance is small between loading and unloading. Waggons may perhaps be 

 the most proper sort of conveyances for different sorts of heavy loads to a considerable 

 distance ; but for home business, especially harvest, and other field work which requires 

 to be speedily performed, carts seem decidedly preferable. 



2764. Waggons, though they may possess some advantages over carts in long journeys, 

 and when fully loaded, the editor of The Farmer's Magazine observes, are now admitted 

 to be much less convenient for the general purposes of a farm, and particularly on 

 occasions which require great despatch, as in harvesting the crop. 



2765. On the loading of waggons much of the value depends. " A waggon or other carriage, on four 

 wheels of equal diameter, is of lighter draught than those in common use, having the fore pair of wheels 

 of less diameter than the hind ; but if the load be placed on the fore and hind wheels in the same 

 proportion that their diameters bear to one another, nearly all the advantages of having wheels of equal 

 diameter will be obtained. This proportioning of the load cannot at all times be effected in carriages of 



393 



the ordinary description, even if wished; because the body of the 

 vehicle must be equally filled with the goods to be removed, or a great 

 loss of room would occur." {W. Baddeley, in Mech. Mag, vol. xii. 

 p. 173.) 



2766. The Sistribution of the load between the wheels, so as to render 

 the difference in their size a matter of no importance, may be effected 

 by adopting a plan recommended by Baddeley, before quoted. In a sketch 

 of a waggon, which this engineer has given in the Mechanics' Magazine 

 {fig. S93.), the hinder wheels are unusually large, and are so situated 

 as to carry four fifths of the weight when the body is fully loaded : with 

 less than a full load they may be made to carry the whole weight, by 

 placing it over them. To admit of such large wheels being used the axle is bent, as will be better seen by 

 referring to fig. 394., which is a section of the hinder portion of the carriage ; it will also be seen that 

 this part of the carriage is supported by three springs, two only being used 

 in the fore part. Simple as this arrangement may at first sight appear, it 

 will be found to possess a great superiority over waggons of the usual 

 construction. The ease with which great roofs may be transported upon 

 wheels- of large dimensions has been a long and well established fact ; but, 

 at the same time, it is one of which the builders of carriages have never so 

 fully availed themselves as they should have done. In passing over a rough 

 or unevenly paved road (such as yet abound in many parts of our metro- 

 polis), a smaU wheel sinks into every little hollow, and the axle, if noticed, 

 would be found to describe a line almost as curved and irregular as the 

 surface of the road. A large wheel on the same road would partake but slightly of its inequalities, and 

 the line described by the axle would be found to deviate but little from a straight line; indeed, with a 

 wheel sufficiently large, the axle would describe a perfectly straight line. In the latter case the friction, 

 and consequently the draught, would be little more than if the carriage ran upon a rail-road ; the larger, 

 therefore, we use the wheels, the nearer we approach this favourable point of effect. By the application 

 of the bent axle {fig. 394.), large wheels, so highly necessary in these cases, might be employed WitnOMt 

 raising the body of the carriage. ( W. Baddeley, jun. in Mech. Mag. vol. xii. p. 174.) 



2767. The Gloucestershire waggon, according to Marshal, is the best in England. By 

 means of a crooked side-rail, bending archwise over the hind wheel, the bodies or frames 

 of them are kept low, without the diameter of the wheels being much lessened. The 

 bodies are likewise made wide in proportion to their shallowness, and the wheels run six 

 inches wider than those of most other waggons, whereby advantages in carrying top* 



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