PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 487 



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American Institute Polytechnic Association, 

 March 19, 1863. 



The Chairman, S. D.-Tiluean, Esq., presiding. 



Dr. Gould presented a model of his combined lap-joint railroad track, to 

 prevent the jamming and bending of the ends of the rail, which elicited con- 

 siderable discussion. 



It had been tested, he said, for four and a half j'-ears on the Erie railroad, 

 and during that time did not cost six cents for repairs. The expense of 

 making the joints, at first, cost from twenty to thirty dollars, but they can 

 now be made for ten to twenty cents. The explanation of the rail is, that 

 by a peculiar lap the joint is made equal to the solid part of the rail, and 

 there is therefore no bending from the weight of the train, as is now the 

 case with the common rail, and the rail is just as level at the joint as at 

 any other part. The patentable part of this rail is the joint and the pro- 

 cess of making the joint. It is so constructed that dirt or any other sub- 

 stance that may get in between the joint, will be crushed or made to fall 

 out by the action of the train passing over it. The bending of the rail at 

 the end of the bar from the weight of the train, and the consequent eleva- 

 tion of the rail before it, and the wheel striking the elevated rail, cause 

 the jarring so disagreeable in railroad traveling. He had noticed the 

 injurious effect this jarring had on cattle that were transported a long dis- 

 tance by railroad, and he made inquiries of the drovers and brokers, and 

 was told by them that cattle brought to this city, as a general thing, were 

 transported 1,000 miles, and when they arrived here they were in a state, 

 of fever, produced, in his opinion, by the jolting on the cars. On arriving 

 at Buffalo, he was told that their plan of feeding the cattle was to place 

 heaps of hay around the edge of the lake, but, without tasting a particle 

 of food, the animals would invariably take to the water, and this was 

 because they were in a high state of fever; and as fever has a tendency to 

 swell the outer tissues, and make the blood flow to the surface, which, in 

 their case, swells the legs without swelling the hoofs, causing theni 

 intense pain, they seek relief by plunging into the water. 



He was told by the drovers that it would not be profitable to give the 

 animals time to rest before selling them, as they declined in flesh rapidly 

 for a month after their arrival in this city, and it would require this length, 

 of time before they would commence to gain in flesh. In this case they 

 follow the same law of a man with typhus fever, as he will gradually 

 decline in flesh for a month after the fever. There is a marked difference 

 in the flavor of beef killed on a farm, and that which is brought such a 

 great distance in cars to this city. The flavor of the former, when either 

 broiling or roasting, could be smelt for nearly half a mile. 



Mr. Dibben said that, in regard to the injurious effects of the jolting of 

 the cars on cattle, it was remarkable that on the rails of the bolted or 

 continuous pattern, that have no ends to bend down, this jolting has been 

 felt more than on the rails of the common style. The fact that Dr. Grould'a 

 rail was in use four and a half years without any repairs, spoke in its- 

 favor, but if it was laid some 100 miles instead of twenty rods,, we could 

 set more value on its utility. 



Mr. Rowell said he noticed on a railroad he recently traveled on in Con- 



