No. 199.] 177 



inches square, dowelled together and spiked, nnd some of them were 

 secured to the adjoining piles by heavy iron bolts, 2| inches diameter, 

 and pressed together by tapering piles, in the form of wedges driven 

 in between at certain intervals for the purpose of making water-tight 

 joints. The machine was applied, and after sundering a few times 

 the heavy iron grapplings by which it was made fast, comjdete suc- 

 cess attended the operation ; the power of the machine, completely 

 overcoming the adhesion of the moist ground, tearing the piles loose 

 from the joinings by the dowelling and spikes, and breaking in twain 

 the heavy iron bolts j exerting a lifting power of over three hundred 

 tons, with an applied force of from four to six hands ! ! The follow- 

 ing letter in regard to the merit of Mr. Dick's invention, is from a 

 very reliable source, and will be read with interest : 



New-York, Kovemher 10, 1840. 

 Joseph E. Holmes, 



Agent for Dick's Anii-Friciion Press. 



Dear Sir — Your favor of the 23d ult. is received. Your Press is 



now in daily use at the Trenton Iron Works, straightening railroad 



iron, and it works to our entire satisfaction. In fact, we are most 



agreeably disappointed in regard to its operation, for in consequence 



of the peculiarly stiff form of the rail we are making, we feared that 



a machine of adequate power could not be obtained. The rail is 7^ 



inches high, with a flange 4| inches wide, and weighs 93 lbs., per 



lineal yard. The ordinary mode of straightening rails by the sledge 



is entirely unavailable on the bar. And yet the machine does the 



work with the utmost ease, and with so much expedition, and so little 



derangement of the fibres of the iron, that we should never thJnk of 



using the sledge again. 



Some idea of the stiffness of the rail may be formed, from the fol- 

 lowing experiments tried bythe Camden and Amboy Railroad Com- 

 pany. 



The rail was placed on bearings 67^- inches apart in the clear j a 

 weight of 24,000 lbs. was then placed in the centre between the 

 bearings, and the deflection of the bar was tf to of an inch. A 

 second experiment with another bar, under precisely similar clrcum- 



fAssemblv. No. 199.1 15 



