AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 559 



fhat the ends came in close contact with the frame; the result 

 was when taken out last fall, they had elongated fully three per 

 cent in a bent form. In refitting, I allowed four and a quarter 

 per cent in the length of the bars, for permanent elongation. 

 Metals, when used as girders for buildings, become sooner fa- 

 tigued by a reiterated strain repeated at intervals, than by a con- 

 tinuous strain. 



A Mr. Paul Moody has taken out a patent for a car brake, 

 which is said to involve a new and important improvement. It 

 consists of an extra steam chest on the engine, in which is placed 

 a piston, precisely similar to those generally used in steam cyl- 

 inders, connecting with the necessary machinery for braking. 

 This is a movable lever, connecting with another lever, and so 

 on continuously to the last car in the train. All these several 

 levers come in contact with the brakes, and impede the further 

 progress of the cars, whenever the engineer applies his hand to 

 the proper spring attached to the steam chest on the locomotive. 



Messrs. Kimball and Rice, of Concord, N. H., have patented 

 an improved brake, which has given satisfaction. 



The invention consists in placing a tube coating of India rub- 

 ber around a link passing through a box or casing, which is 

 attached to the brake. The rubber is inclosed in the box, to hold 

 it in a permanent position, except so far as its elasticity is affected 

 by the pressure of the link, whenever the brake is used, thereby 

 causing the rubber to act and re-act within itself, without any 

 rubbing or friction of the links in which it is inclosed, thus 

 avoiding the wear and rattling of the machinery, as well as un- 

 pleasant shocks. 



Mr. John Lane, of Liverpool, in 1850, invented a brake that 

 locks, simultaneously, the wheels of all the cars that follow the 

 first; it is done by means of an ingenious continuation of the 

 arrangement of piston rods, springs, and other machinery, all 

 simple in construction, and therefore not liable to get out of 

 order. The brake itself, when in operation, clips around a drum 

 in the middle of the axletree of the two wheels of each car to be 

 stopped. The whole is placed, under the car bodies, and the sin- 

 gle operation of pulling the brake handle in front, effects the 

 stoppage of every car in the train. 



How would it do to place a looking-glass in front of the engi- 

 neer on the locomotive, so inclined that he might see the entire 

 train behind him, without being compelled to turn round. He 



