2\ials of Traction-Engincs at Wolverhampton. 
527 
of the engines employed have, as Is well known, been self-propel- 
ling, and, therefore, truly locomotives for road or for farm ; but, 
nevertheless, they have been considered simply as ploughing 
steam-engines, and their merits have not been judged apart 
from those of the ploughing tackle which they drove. 
There appeared no valid reason why locomotive engines 
should not be made suitable for moving agricultural machinery, 
whether threshing, ploughing by means of windlasses, or for 
other purposes for which the farmer requires motive power ; and 
it was with the view of encouraging the manufacture of such 
engines that the Society determined this year to offer a prize, not 
for a mere locomotive, but for "the best agricultural locomotive 
engine applicable to the oi'dinary requirements of farming." 
Before entering into a description of the nature of the engines 
which the exhibitors have brought forward to compete in this Class 
it may be as well to say a few words upon the history of common- 
road locomotion. It is now nearly forty years since Gurney 
(and there Avere probably others befoi'e him) exhibited his com- 
mon-road steamer as a competitor with the stage-coach of the 
period. He was speedily followed by Ogle and Summers, by 
Maceroni, by Russell (whose engine, however, threw great dis- 
credit on the cause in consequence of its exploding), by Sir 
Charles Dance, and by Walter Hancock. It was this latter 
gentleman who, from about 1825 to 1835, did more than any of his 
predecessors or competitors to show the feasibility of using steam- 
power as a means of propulsion on common roads at higher 
speeds than those attainable by the best stage-coaches. For many 
months together his steam-carriages, competent to carry from 15 
to 20 passengers, travelled regularly from the Bank to Padding- 
ton and back at the ordinary sixpenny fares then charged by the 
omnibuses, and besides the Paddington journey he very com- 
monly used to come out from and return to his factory at Strat- 
ford, his carriages passing through Whitechapel, Leadenhall- 
street, Cornhill, and the busiest parts of the City of London. 
In his steam-coaches he exhibited a very large amount of 
ingenuity and of engineering knowledge. The boilers and en- 
gines he manufactured would compare favourably with the best 
productions of the present day — a great thing to say of a man 
who worked 35 or 40 years ago, when high-pressure light engines 
were so much less understood than they are now. The principal 
merit of his steam-carriage lay in the boiler. This was com- 
posed of a number of flat chambers which were ranged side by 
side, like books on a shelf, with a space, however, of about three- 
quarters of an inch between each two neighbouring chambers. 
The water and the steam were in the chambers. The pressure 
used was about 100 lbs., and evidently no shape could be more 
