( 395 ) 
PROGRESS OF SCIENCES, 
AS APPLICABLE TO THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES; TO COMMERCE 
AND TO AGRICULTURE. 
PALMER’S PATENT EXCAVATING AND 
SELF-LOADING CART. 
In this railway age an invention which isre- 
presented to be capable of etfectinga saving of 
no less than “ 500 percent.” in the time and 
labour attending those fundamental railway 
operations, cutting and embanking, will be 
readily allowed to be one deserving of all 
possible attention. Whether so prodigious a 
saving could be actually realized by the 
apparatus we are about to describe, practice 
only can determine; and, for the present, we 
are inclined to think that to expect so 
much from it, is to take rather a sangxxine 
view of its capabilities. But we are sure every 
mechanical reader will join with us, at ail 
events, in admiring the ingenuity and skill 
with which it has been constructed. 
Fig. I is aside elevation of Mr. Palmer’s 
excavating and self-loading cart ; fig. 2, an 
end-view ; and fig. 3, a sectional view through 
the axle. 
The cart, it will be seen, is of the ordinary 
size ; it maybe drawn by one or two horses, 
and will hold half a ton. A A (fig. 2.) are 
the wheels, the rims of which are hollow, 
open on the inside, and divided by the pro- 
jecting partitions B B into as many separate 
chambers as there are spokes ; C C are iron 
cutters or excavators, resembling plough- 
shares, one to each wheel, which scoop out 
the earth and throw it upon the projecting 
partitions B B, which, as the wheels revolve, 
discharge the earth into the body of the cart 
H ; D is a beam, to xvhich each excavator is 
secured by two strong bolts ; and E, a lever, 
with a hooked termination, to which a chain 
G, proceeding from the excavator D, is at- 
tached, so that by the turning of this lever 
the excavator may be adjusted to any depth 
required, or raised altogether when the cart 
has completed its load. The means provided 
for emptying the cart are shown in fig. 2. 
The bottom is divided into two parts II, 
which are connected by the bars K K to a 
chain L, which passes round a projecting 
iron rod or pulley N. M is a winch-handle, 
which, being applied to the rod N, opens or 
shuts the bottom leaves of the cart at plea 
sure. P P are strong horizontal bars, made 
fast to the body of the cart, both in front and 
at back ; R R, diagonal braces, which con- 
nect the upper and lower bars P P ; and S S, 
braces , proceeding from the nave of the wheel 
to the bars P P. On the uppermost of these 
bars, immediately above the letter O, there 
is a stopper to retain the winch handle 
when necessary. 
The cart is stated to have been “ seen at 
work by many engineers, who have all given 
their most decided- approbation of it.”^ A 
model of it maybe seen at Mr. Hendries’, 
in Oxford-street. 
