June 8, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE^VS. 



537 



A ROTARY STEAM SNOW SHOVEL. 



TN a recent number of the Scientific American an 

 account is given of the various snow ploughs used on 

 railways in the United States. The most common of the 

 old methods was a plough attached to the front of a heavy 

 locomotive, the latter itself being pushed by other loco- 

 motives. With all the power it was possible to apply in 

 this way, however, the progress was slow, failures were 

 frequent, and the plough and locomotives often had to be 

 dug out by gangs of labourers. Many engines have 

 also been wrecked, and lives have been lost by attempt- 

 ing to ram a way through snow which had been packed 

 in a cutting. 



Where the snow is sufficiently packed and frozen, a 

 method has been adopted of cutting out blocks the width 

 of the railway, and these blocks are hauled away by a 

 locomotive to a point where they can be conveniently 

 deposited out of the way. 



According to our contemporary, by far the most satis- 

 factory method of accomplishing this work is with the 

 rotary steam snow shovel, a good idea of which will be 

 gathered from our illustration. 



From this it will be seen that in front of the machine 

 there is a large wheel carrying knives, and as this is 

 rotated it cuts the snow and throws it away. This wheel 

 is mounted on the outer end of a longitudinal steel shaft, 

 connected by means of bevel gearing to a cross shaft, 

 actuated by a pair of horizontal steam cylinders. 



The direction in which the snow is thrown may be 

 changed from one side of the track to the other, as it 

 would evidently be inexpedient to force the snow in a 

 direction against the wind, and there are many places 

 where it would be better to direct it one way rather than 

 another. 



The boiler has more heating surface and the fire-box is 

 larger than is usual on locomotives. The whole machine 

 with engine and boiler is mounted on an eight-wheeled 

 car, under the charge of a pilot who can by signals 

 communicate with the engineers on the rotary and the 

 pushing engines, and by a hand-wheel he can also alter 

 the position of the hood that directs the stream of snow 

 to either side. 



There are also devices for cleaning the rails as effec- 

 tually as by hand with picks, shovels, and brushes. The 

 machine has a weight of some fifty tons, and is pushed 

 into the snow by one or two locomotives, as may be 

 required. The capabilities of the machine will be better 

 appreciated, perhaps, by reading the following report 

 recently published in the Minneapolis Tribune : 



" One of the rotaries started out in Dakota in the 

 middle of January, after the terrible storm, while the 

 thermometer was still 30 degrees below zero. Sidings 

 covered with from i to 3 feet of snow were first cleared, 

 the rotary being pushed by one engine. The next 

 operation was to open the northern division from James- 

 town to Minneawaukon. The first obstacle encountered 

 was a cutting filled with 1 2 feet of solid snow, packed, and 

 frozen hard for about 25 feet, while for 100 feet more 

 the drift varied in depth from i to 5 feet. The rotary 

 was pushed by two engines, but stalled after penetrating 

 5 feet into the deep cutting. On backing out it was found 

 that the face of the drift on which the rotary cutters had 

 been working resembled polished granite in shine and 

 consistency. The sides of the face were then shovelled 

 down, and the rotary, after repeated attacks, worked 

 through the obstruction. As many as nine ordinary 

 snow ploughs had been smashed up in trying to open 

 the same cutting in the previous spring, but within three 

 hours the cutting was opened, and another one 500 feet 

 long and varying from 2 to 8 feet deep had also been 

 cleared, and an abandoned and buried train had been 

 disinterred. The train was taken back to Jamestown, 

 and the rotary started again next morning, making an 

 advance of 46 miles during the day. Two cuttings 600 

 and 800 feet long respectively, biocked with snow from 

 2 to 8 feet deep, were cleared out. In the deepest parts 

 the snow was packed solid and frozen hard. But, not- 

 withstanding this, the worst cutting was opened in 50 

 minutes. It is found that where the snow is not hard 

 packed — of the consistency where an ox can walk on it 

 without sinking in more than 2 inches — the rotary will 

 clear out snow 10 to 12 feet deep, while moving two or 

 three miles an hour." 



The working of the machine is described as being a 

 remarkable sight. The centrifugal force of the wheel is 

 so great that the snow is discharged in the form of a 

 great stream or cloud, and hurled to a distance of from 

 100 to 300 feet from the track. 



THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY. 



THE Astronomer-Royal, in his report to the Board of 

 Visitors on Saturday the 2nd inst., said the exten- 

 sion of the computing rooms, referred to last year, has 

 been carried out, and the whole of the staft" of the 

 astronomical department are located in two rooms, with 

 means of ready communication between them. On the 

 top of the extended rooms a dome 18 ft, in diameter 

 (covered with papier-mache) has been erected, in which 

 it is intended to mount an equatoreal and photohelio- 

 graph. 



The subject of railways in proximity 10 the Observatory 

 was once more brought into prominence by a proposal to 

 construct a tunnel under Blackheath in connection with 

 the Bexley-heath Railwaj'. On five nights otiseivations 

 were made to test the effect of the trains on the South- 

 Eastern line on a special clsss cf observation (the image 



