542 



THE SOUTHE 



RN PLANTER. 



[September 



tion*5 that is, it will be as if moving across 

 the slope of an inclined plane, which would 

 be a position of obvious disadvantage and 

 inconvenience. Besides the size of the en- 

 gine being thus limited, in order to obtain 

 room and convenient arrangement of pur- 

 chase gear, by which to multiply the power, 

 a vertical boiler will be that to be adopted. 



In the engine about to be described, the 

 framing will be best of X iron, and form- 

 ing beams with hollow sides, 6 wide by 9 

 inches deep, and the thickness of the iron 

 \ inch. Such a beam will be sufficient to 

 bear a much greater weight than that of the 

 engine, but should additional stiffness be ne- 

 cessary, the hollows in the s^des of the beams 

 may be filled in with oak timber of a scant- 

 ling of 8 inches by 2|- inches, and secured 

 in their places by through bolts at frequent 

 intervals. 



The wheels, it is proposed, should con- 

 sist of a pair of driving wheels, 5 feet in 

 diameter, placed in the mid-length of the 

 framing, and a pair of steering wheels, 2 

 feet 6 inches in diameter, near each end ; 

 the last-mentioned wheels being so small in 

 their diameter in order that they may lock 

 completely under the platform of the ma- 

 chine. The whole of the wheels will be 

 best made of malleable iron, felloes and arms 

 being hollow, the latter cast into cast-iron 

 bosses or naves, and the felloes made in seg- 

 ments ; the tires should be hoops of mallea- 

 ble iron, 12 inches broad and f inch thick, 

 which, being put on the felloes, hot, will, by 

 contraction, keep the several parts of the 

 wheel firmly in their places, and the whole 

 will be of great strength combined with 

 lightness and durability. The axle of the 

 driving wheels should be 3 inches in diam- 

 eter, those of the steering wheels 2 inches 

 in diameter, the whole made of the best 

 forged scrap iron. 



The arrangement of the position of the 

 wheels should be such, that from the out- 

 side of one driving wheel to the outside of 

 the other should be the extreme breadth of 

 the machine ; the hinder pair of steering- 

 wheels should be just clear of and within 

 the track of the driving wheels; and the 

 front steering wheels should have the same 

 relative position to the hinder steering wheels 

 that the latter have to the driving wheels. 

 So that were the wheels all of the same 

 diameter, and placed upon the same axle, 

 they would form two cylindrical rollers, of 

 three parts each ; on the same axle, with an 



interval of a few inches, at mid-length of 

 the axle, between them. 



By such arrangement, the whole weight 

 of the machine will be distributed over six 

 wheels, each 12 inches in breadth, or an ag- 

 gregate breadth of six feet, and none of the 

 wheels following in any part of the track of 

 the others, the pressure of the weight of the 

 machine on the land will be reduced to a 

 minimum. 



The boiler, as it has already been stated, 

 is a vertical one. It is proposed that the 

 height of the principal part or cylinder 

 should be 8 feet, with a further height of 

 about 1 foot 3 inches, and of 2 feet diame- 

 ter, as additional steam chamber. Inside 

 the main portion of the boiler is the fire 

 box, 3 feet in height, having a hemispherical 

 dome 3 feet in diameter, with a flue 1 foot 

 in diameter, rising from the said dome, and 

 passing through the steam chamber. As to 

 the diameter of the boiler, it should be as 

 follows, viz: — Fire box 3 feet; water space 

 round the fire box 3 inches ; thicknesses of 

 the plates, f inch each, in the whole 

 inch ; making 3 feet 7 1 inches as the out- 

 side diameter of the boiler. The outside 

 shell, fire box, and so much of the flue as is 

 within the boiler, should be made of the 

 best Yorkshire or Derbyshire plates, | inch 

 thick, and put together with f inch rivets, 



2 inches apart, centre to centre. The chim- 

 ney above the boiler need not exceed the 

 thickness of No. 7, on the Birmingham 

 wire gauge ; and in the chimney there 

 should be a damper, with the necessary 

 means for opening and closing it, within 

 the perfect command of the stoker. The 

 boiler should be fitted with safety-valve 

 loaded with Salter's spring balance, steam 

 pressure gauge, glass water gauge, steam 

 whistle float, blow-off and sludge cocks, and 

 every other appliance for safety and conve- 

 nience of the most approved construction. 

 In order to bring the centre of gravity of 

 the boiler as low as possible, and also to 

 bring its top to a convenient height above 

 the platform of the machine, the boiler 

 should be slung from the sides of the frame 

 -by saddles or inverted brackets of plate-iron, 



3 feet in length, riveted to the sides of the 

 boiler, and bolted to the frame by 3 bolts at 

 each side, so that the fire grate may be 2 

 feet below the level of the platform of the 

 machine. 



The engine should consist of three ver- 

 tical cylinders, the pistons of which may be 



