520 
Iieporl on tlu; Implemonts 
14 inches loug, the ends of which are turned sharphr down to 
rest on the plate over the main rail, and which is attached to a 
hinge, by means of which it can be turned off to one side when 
it is desired to leave the main line open. To the opposite side 
of the plate are attached short pieces of rail secured at their 
outer ends to a plate sleeper, which forms the junction to the 
continuation of the line. The effect of this arrangement is that 
the siding rises and crosses over the main line so that the switch 
can be applied anywhere, and by simply moving the tongues 
and the crossing bar, leave the main line free. The whole is 
so light that a couple of men can fit the points and remove 
them in a few minutes. The wheels of the rolling stock are 
double flanged, which effectually secures the safe working of the 
arrangement. The rails are of the ordinary flat-footed kind, 2| 
inches high, 2 inches wide at the foot, and 1 inch at the head. 
The special feature of the portable railway to which this 
switch is adapted, figs. 11 and 12, lies in the fact that it can be 
immediately laid across the most uneven ground. Each section 
consists of two steel rails, which are fastened at one end to a 
wooden or steel sleeper, in such manner that about one-third 
of the sleeper is left free to act as a support for the next set of 
rails. As the ends of the rails which rest on the sleeper have 
two steel studs riveted on the outside of the web, the steel hooks 
of the next set of rails engage with the steel studs of the pre- 
ceding set of rails (as shown in fig. 11), and as soon as the rail 
is lowered to the ground form a longitudinal connection without 
any bolts or nuts. 
The chief advantage of this joint is that, owing to its flexi- 
bility, it adapts itself to the most uneven ground, each set of 
rails being really only the long link of a chain. In fact, the 
variation of the level of each set of rails on very rough gi-ound 
is so great that it has been found necessary to fit the trucks 
with double-flanged wheels, as it frequently happens that only 
three wheels are resting on the rails. During the two years that 
this system has been patented in Germany, a great number of 
estate owners there, and in Austria, have adopted this railway 
for farm work, for taking the manure out into the fields, and 
bringing the produce to the farmyard, sugar factory, or distil- 
lery, as the case may be. 
111. Steam Engines. 
It is remarkable how generally the system of regulating the 
speed of engines by means of an ordinary governor shifting a 
block coiinected with the expansion slide iu a curved rocking 
