MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
193 
feet, which, being divided by 5,280, gives a speed of 30 
niilas an hour, nearly, cm a level. 
With the 6-feet wheels in gear, the calculated speed 
is 14^ miles an hour, on a level, and it will ho observed 
that either of these wheels may be thrown in or out of 
gear with great facility, and used according to the speed 
required. 
A crank is used to communicate motion to the 7-feet 
wheels. The crank is, in this case, fixed at each end of 
the axle, and the connecting rods are inclined at an 
angle of about 5 degrees with the horizon, by which 
arrangement it has been shown that there is a 
mechanical advantage. 
It may not be out of placo to observe that in the 
steam-locomotive, the axle of the driving wheels is 
usually, broken in two places near the centre, to form 
the cranks. This is an absolute disadvantage, as the 
breaking of a cranked axle, in a four-wheeled engine, is 
an accident which is almost of necessity attended with 
the overthrow'of the engine, and, when travelling at a 
rapid rate, the consequences of the overthrow of the 
engine are often frightful. In a six-wheeled engine, the 
consequences of the fracture of an axle are not so 
serious, but it necessitates the stoppage of the train, 
until assistance arrives. 
The disadvantages of the ordinary cranked axle of 
the steam-locomotive are, therefore, obviated in the 
horse-locomotive, as the axle maintains its integrity 
throughout. 
The moving platform is supported on three anti¬ 
friction rollers, and its width is sufficient for two hoi-ses 
to work abreast; its construction is simple, and it is 
not likely to get out of order, being chiefly composed 
of wrought iron. A break for regulating the speed of 
the engine, on a descent, will, of course, require to he 
used, and the simplest form of this mechanism is that 
of the friction-band, so commonly used in cranes, crab 
winches, &c. By this method, the momentum of the 
train may be retarded in any quantity the breaksman 
or driver may judge proper, by the use of the lever and 
lightening-bar and band, and _ the force required to 
retard the train is very trifling, as any degree of 
retardation may be produced by simply moving the 
lover more or less forward. 
The horse-locomotive may obviously be used on 
common roads, but in this case the advantage to be 
derived from it will be inferior to that of its employ¬ 
ment on a smooth and unyielding surface like that of 
a railway. 
It may also be used to propel boats on rivers or in 
harbours, for by 'placing the machinery in a proper 
boat, similar to the fast canal boats of England and 
Scotland, -with either a screw-propeller or paddle- 
wheels, there can be little doubt that two horses could 
maintain a speed of fully eight miles an hour in smooth 
water. 
But a more important use may be made of the loco¬ 
motive, for by disconnecting the crank and affixing a 
churn or pulley to the end of the crank axle, and 
throwing also the smaller driving wheels out of gear, 
we have at once a powerful and efficient horse-power 
engine, which may be employed for giving morion to 
vanous kinds Df machinery. Thu3 it may drive a 
circular saw, and cut up all the boards or scantling 
required on an estate, or it may be employed to grind 
wheat, or crack maize, or work a threshing and 
winnowing machine, a crushing mill, or pump water 
and perform various other work. 
As a labour-saving machine, therefore, the horse¬ 
power engine must prove a valuable one in a -country 
like Australia, where, owing to various causes, labour 
is generally both scarce and dear, and too often ol very 
indifferent quality. In such a country, the simpler the 
form of machinery, the better it is adapted to the 
wants of the community. # . 
The horse-locomotive and power engine is both 
simple in construction, effective in its operation, and 
easily repaired, if injured. For these reasons, it is 
with confidence recommended, not only for the purpose 
of facilitating locomotion, but also as a most useful and 
efficient labour-saving machine, particularly in the 
interior of the colony; and it is believed that its 
adoption would be attended with the most beneficial 
results to the material interests of the colony. 
FREDERICK S. PEPPERCORNE, 
Civil Engineer and Surveyor. 
Richmond River, November 1st, 1857. 
Note.—I f our readers will refer to the July number of 
this Magazine, they will there find an engraving of the 
American horse-power engine, a modification of which Mr, 
Peppereorne proposes to employ to propel a train of car¬ 
riages on a railway.—F. d. 
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW 
SOUTH WALES. 
On Wednesday, September 10, 1856, tlie 
following paper on Sanitary Reform was 
read by Isaac Aaron, Esq., who has since 
been appointed Health Officer for the city. 
It is needless to enlarge on the high 
importance of this subject, but it is matter 
for regret that though upwards of a year 
has elapsed, since this paper was read, very 
little lias been done to remedy the evils 
thus pointed out. 
SANITARY REFORM. 
Although the subject of Sanitary Reform has 
occupied a considerable share of public attention 
in this colony, since the time when, eight years 
ago, I delivered, at the School of Arts, a lecture 
on the “Diseases of Towns,” it has yet assumed so 
little of a practical shape that X trust I shall not he 
considered as needlessly taking np the time of the 
society in the endeavour to assert its claim to a 
more intimate and general notice than it has yet 
received. 
It may he that, to some who have hut lately- 
arrived amongst us, and who are not yet divested 
of the exaggerated notions entertained in the 
mother country, respecting the salubrity of our 
climate, this may appear a superfluous labour. 
Those who have resided here but a very short 
time, will, however, have discovered that the 
changes of temperature are as sudden and extreme 
as in, perhaps, any other part of the world. That 
they are not followed by the consequence usual 
elsewhere, is doubtless in a great measure at¬ 
tributable to the general dryness of our atmasphere. 
That this peculiar meteorologic condition will in 
time, as population increases, as the clearing and 
cultivation of the country progress, and a deciduous 
supplants the perennial indigenous vegetation, he 
much modified, I do not doubt; and though this 
will not happen in ourtime, I think it a contingency 
that it is right I should allude to. 
Experience has shown thatwhenever large masses 
of population have settled down permanently on 
any locality, the consequence is an increased 
liability to disease, and science has proved that this 
arises, ’in a great degree at least, from the neglect 
of those sanitary precautions which ought always 
to accompany such an aggregation. This, is the 
invariable rule; nor, however favourably situated 
otherwise, can we expect exemption from its 
operation. 
