tJSE OF SOAPSTONE IN MACHINERV. WHEEL CARRIAGES. 9 



from £fn< ; and it can be purified in a good degree by mixing the 

 powder with oil and dihiting it after it has stood a few minutes. 

 The heavier particles will form a sediment to be rejected. It is 

 used on all kinds of machinery, where it is necessary to apply any 

 unctuous substance to diiniuif-h friction ; and it is said to be an ex- 

 cellent substitute for the usual compositions applied to carriage 

 wheels. 



Some idea of the value of soapstone in this use of it, may be 

 formed from the following fact, communicated by D. Moody, Esq. 

 the supcriiilcndcnt of the Tar Works on the Mill Dam, near this 

 city : — Coimected with the rolling machine is a horizontal balance- 

 wheel weighing fourteen tons, which runs on a step of five inches 

 diameter, and makes from seventy-five to a himdred and twenty- 

 five revolutions in a minute. About a hundred tons of iron are 

 rolled in this machine in a month ; yet the wdieel has sometimes 

 been used from three to five weeks without inconvenience, before 

 the soapstone has been renewed. The superintendent thinks how- 

 ever that it ought to be more frequently applied. 



This use of soapstone was discovered at Lowell by an accident, 

 the circumstances of which it is not necessary now to repeat. It 

 is sufiicient to say, that it is regarded by those who have used it as 

 an invaluable discovery. I have been assured that it has never 

 been known to fail of producing the desired result, when applied 

 to the machinery which had begun to be heated even in those cases 

 where nothing else could be found which would answer the pur- 

 pose. Very respectfully, your friend, &c. 



Boston. Aug. 6, 1827. P^bexe. Bailey. 



ISilliman^s Journal. 



WHEEL CARRIAGES. 



Gentlemen ; — I avail myself of the opportunity afforded by the 

 Mechanics' Magazine, of communicating what has lain upon my 

 mind above fifty years, and that is to suggest the necessity of an 

 improvement which might be made upon two-wheel carriages, par- 

 ticularly those drawn by one or more horses. I allude however 

 piincipally to carts drawn by one horse. In going along a level 

 road loaded, nothing need be said, but when going up or down 

 a hill — particularly if the loading is high, how the poor horse suf- 

 fers. 



In going up, especially, the disadvantage he labors under is great, 

 in consequence of the proper bearing upon his back being tlicn 

 taken off and thrown upon the back part of the axle-tree. Now 

 to remedy this, I conceive that though the shafts must be as in the 

 usual manner, fixed upon the axle, yet a method might be so con- 

 trived, by which the body could be moved backward and foi'ward 

 upon the shafts, so as to bring the proper bearing upon the horse's 

 back, whetlier going up or down hill. Those of your readers who 

 liave been in Scotland, may have noticed that the carters there 

 when they come to a boltom of a hill with a heavy load, are in the 

 2 Vol. 1. 



