192 
MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND AET. 
successful, a.s a speed of only 5 or G miles an hour was 
attained. The machine was rudely constructed, and 
weighed 3 tons, of which the horses probably made 1 
ton, hut they had not room to exert- themselves, owing 
to the narrow gauge of the railway. The chief objec¬ 
tion to this machine was, however, that the weight of 
the horse was ineffective in producing motion, in conse¬ 
quence ot the platform being made perfectly level. 
This was a vital error, although it was singularly 
enough objected to this method, that the horse had to 
earn/ his own weight. This objection might with some 
reason have been urged against the locomotive engine, 
but its admirers could see nothing to find fault with in 
enormous weight. 
This simple machine, although it proved a failure on 
the Liverpool and Manchester railway, and Las never 
since been used, is nevertheless capable; of being con¬ 
verted into a most effective means of increasing the 
useful effect of a horse. 
The first improvement required to be made is to in¬ 
cline the platform at a certain angle with the horizon, 
as in this way the horse’s dead weight, combined with 
his muscular force, come into full play, and it will be 
observed that the great advantage of this arrangement | 
is that a velocity of motion can be produced in the 
machine far beyond the usual limits at which a horse 
any power of traction by ordinary draught. 
The angle of inclination of the horse platform is pro¬ 
posed to be from 8 to 10 degrees. 
Assuming that an angle of 9 degrees is the most suit¬ 
able for the horses, this angle corresponds with an 
inclination of 6 ot haso to 1 of perpendicular; that is, 
the length of tho plane is to its height as 6 is to l! 
Therefore, if a weight of 1 ton be placed on a plane of 
this degree of inclination, then tho payer P that will 
just balance the weight to be moved will be expressed 
as follows:—I* =2240 X, 1 =373 lbs. 
G 
New, a power of 373 lbs. acting in the direction of 
tho plane will just balance a weight of 1 ton placed on 
the plane, and a slight addition to it, will draw the 
weight up tho plane. This, therefore, will represent 
the inert tone of two horses weighing 1 ton when placed 
on an inclined plane of 6 horizontal to 1 perpendicular. 
Abating the friction of the machine, this force wonld of 
itself be equivalent at 9 lbs. per ton to balance a weight 
uj-ona lev-el railway, equal to 41 £ tons; but it has 
been shewn that the muscular force of an ordinary home 
is eqnal to tho traction of 10$ tons on a level railway, 
or of two horses, a load of 33 j tons; and as it is appa¬ 
rent that both the weight of the horse, as well as his 
tractive force, must bo taken into consideration in the 
horse-locomotive, this quantity must be added to the 
first, which gives a total load of 7-1 tons. 
It is farther apparent that if the horses carry some 
additional weight, they will exert more power in the 
locomotive than if they carried none ; so that if each 
horse were loaded with a weight of 100 lbs. placed on 
his back, this would evidently be so much added to the 
power of the machine, and wonld relieve the draught 
so as to mole than compensate for the trifling additional 
fatigue of carrying it. In this case the equation would 
therefore be:— 
P—2240 X 200=400 lbs. 
, 6 
Add for tractive force of 2 horses.,.300 lbs. 
Total.706 lbs. 
And a force of 706 lbs. is equal to the traction of 78 
tons on a level railway. 
On a line with variable gradients, such as are com - 
monly to be found on railways, it is manifest that so 
large a weight as 78 tons could not he drawn bv two 
horses, for it is demonstrable that an acclivity, of wliat- 
Pv yr road it may exist, which rises 7 feet in a mile, or 
1 in 750, will increase the resistance which is opposed 
to the drawing povver to the amount of 3 lbs. per ton, 
and that if the acclivity rise 14 feet in a mile, or 1 in 
375, three pounds more will be added to the resistance. 
Snpiwsing an acclivity to rise 21 feet in a mile, or 1 
in 250, this wonld add 9 lbs. to the resistance, and con¬ 
sequently the tractive force up such an acclivity on a 
railway would be 18 lbs. The same acclivity on a 
macadamized road would likewise add 9 lbs. to the re¬ 
sistance, and the tractive power on sush a road being 
assumed at 100 lbs. to move 1 ton on a level, then the 
drawing power for an acclivity of 1 in 250 would be 
109 lbs. While, therefore, such an acclivity as this 
would require the drawing power to be doubled , it 
would add only 9 per cent, to the drawing povver re¬ 
quired ou the macadamized road. 
An acclivity on a railway which rises at a less rate 
than 21 feet in a mile, or l' in 250, though it gives a 
tendency to the load to descend by its gravity, does not 
however produce its descent, the downward tendency 
on such acclivities being less than the resistance of the 
road i bat in descending- an acclivity rising at the rate 
of 21 feet in a mile, or at any greater rate, the load 
will continue to move.in its descent without any trac¬ 
tive power. 
This particular acclivity, therefore, or declivity, of 
21 feet in a mile, or 1 'in 230, forms tho boundary 
between those inclined planes, in the descent ot which a 
drawing power is necessary, and those down which the 
load moves by its unassisted gravity; and with regard 1 
to speed it may be remarked "that one peculiar advan¬ 
tage of employing horses to propel a load, bv exerting 
their strength within the carriage , is, that the speed of 
tho horse remains always the same, being limited to his 
ordinary walking pace of 2} or 3 miles, at which rate 
it has been demonstrated that ho exerts his maximum 
tractive force. 
It is an undoubted fact that the greatest amount of 
“ nseful effect ” on a railway, is produced bv carrying a 
heavy weight at a comparatively slow" speed—the 
object Df all railways being to convoy a certain quantity 
of goods and passengers, in a given time, and to do this 
with tho least expenditure of power—but on a railway, 
intended chiefly for passengers, the attainment of an 
adequate speed is absolutely required. 
It is also true that on horse railways, a speed of 15 
miles an hour has been attained by two horses, attached 
to a car carrying twelve passengers, running short 
stages of five or six miles only. This method was 
practised^ on some of the American railvvav-s, to the 
manifest injury and rapid destruction of the physical 
povver uf the horse, and it is a method which cannot be 
recommended to be practised, cither on tho score of 
economy or of humanity, for the injurious consequences 
of urginga liorso to his full speed at once, are too well 
known to ihe proprietors of horses, and it deserves their 
attention to consider the best means of training horses 
so as to perform their work with the least injury to 
their animal powers, which must be rapidly destroyed 
by urging the horse to a speed of 15 miles ah hour with 
a load. 
The speed of the horse-locomotive is regulated by the 
number of teeth in tho first motion-wheel, compared 
" 1 th the number of teeth or leaves in the pinion or 
follower, and it also depends on the diameter of the 
driving wheels. . 
It is dearly advantageous to reduce the amount of 
axle friction and the resistance ou the rail as much as 
possible: the amount of friction being alwavs propor¬ 
tionate to the extent of rubbing surface, and’being, all 
othey things being the same, inversely proportional to 
the diameter of the wheels. 
The driving wheels in the horse-locomotive are pro¬ 
posed to be ot 6 feet and 7 feet respectivelythe larger 
driving wheels being thrown into gear where the 
greatest speed is required, and tbe lesser when a slow 
speed is reqnired. The speed of the 7-feet wheels can 
be brought up to 120 revolutions ia a minute, without 
any difltculty, consequently the velocity (V) of their 
circumference will be expressed as follows:—V 3-1416 
X 7 X 120=2,619 feet per minnte. Hence the distance 
passed over by tbe wheel, in one hour, will be 158,340 
