Agricultural Steam-engines at Newcastle. 685 
Mr. Humphries elected to run at 185 revolutions, and 100 lbs. 
pressure, find with a brake-load of 20-horse-power. From the 
first, it was evident that this engine was under no proper control 
bj the governor, and its speed during the trial was, indeed, prac- 
tically governed by the driver and regulator handle. 
Alter running for 2^ hours, during which time the calls for 
coal were heavy, the engine was stopped at the suggestion of the 
exhibitor, who recognized the uselessness of continuing the 
contest. The engine ran 2 hrs. 26 min. actual, and 2 hrs. 
23 min. mechanical time, using 249 lbs. of coal, equivalent to 
a consumption of 5 5 lbs. per horse-power per hour. 
The indicator diagrams taken from this engine during the 
secondary trial, given elsewhere, must be consulted in explana- 
tion of a performance which was the more disappointing, inas- 
much as the engine was of simple design, good proportions, and 
well made. 
Compound Traction Engine, hy Messrs. Foden and Sons 
(No. 3113). — The triaUof this engine, which took place on Satur- 
day the 9th, excited special interest, on the twofold grounds that 
it was expected to run the Davey-Paxman Compound very 
close, while the declared steam-pressure of 250 lbs. per square 
inch was far in excess of that used by any other exhibitor, and 
questionably, either within or without the limits which practice 
must somewhere impose on very high tensions. 
The boiler is of the locomotive type, with a parallel barrel. The cylinders 
arc placed at the smoke-box end, and, including the covers, are completely 
jacketed, the jackets draining into the boiler. The slipper-guides are of 
cylindrical section, cast on the cylinder covers, and bored out. The cranks 
make an angle of 180° the one with the other, and consist each of a pair 
of discs, connected by a crank-pin ; the discs, crank-pins, and crank-shaft 
itself being formed of a single steel casting. 
The crank-shaft bearings are carried in a cast-iron box, which saddles the 
liiiiler at the fire-box end, and is supported by horn-plates, rising from the 
builer. The crank brasses are divided at an angle of 45° and adjusted bj 
means of lateral set-screws. The central portion of the crank-shaft, lying 
between the cranks, acts as a pulley for driving the governor, while, between 
the cranks and crank-bearings on either side, room is found for two eccen- 
trics, giving motion to the reversing links. The valve gear of the small 
cylinder is of the kind known as " Farcot's," the main valve carrying the 
cut-off valve on its back by frictional contact, until the motion of the latter 
is arrested by coming into contact with suitable stops, either movable or fixed. 
These stops, in the present case, consist of the two ends of a slot, formed 
in the valve spindle, through which opening a wedge-sliaped slide, operated 
by a high speed "Porter" governor, rises or falls with every change in the 
speed. The lower the wedge, the earlier the suppression of steam, and vice 
versa. Since, however, the friction of the valve-spindle gland might possibly 
nrrest the motion of the cut-off slide, a second stuffing box, made fast to the 
spindle of the main valve, grasps the spindle in question, balancing, by its 
own friction, the friction of the gland whose retarding agency is to be feared. 
Similarly, the outward pressure of the steam upon the end of the cut-off 
