AMERICAN RAILROAD JOURNAL, AND ADVOCATE OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. PUBLISHED WEEKLY, AT No. 35 WALL STREET, NEW-YORK, AT THREE DOLLARS PER ANNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. D. K. MINOR, EDITOR.] CONTENTS: On Road-Making; Natural Wonders; Canal of Goe- SATURDAY, MARCH 80, 1833. fecting this important business has occurred to me: Instead of forming, in the usual way, the road convex, it should be concave, say 25 feet Communication of J. L. McAdam, on Road-Making... 196 wide, sloping very gradually to the middle, so .197 New Modification of the Power of the Screw (with en- 199 which his eye [VOLUME II.-No. 13. has been familiar. But in a mo spot whence it is usual to gaze over the wonderful deep, has, in his imagination, a limitation, graduated by a reference to instances with ment, eternity, as it were, is presented to his that the sides shall be a few inches higher astonished senses; and he is instantly overthan the middle. This, I believe, is not alto-whelmed. His system is no longer subject to his volition or his reason, and he falls like a gether a new idea: the following, however, as mass of pure water. He then revives, and in far as I know, is new. I would propose that a wild delirium surveys a scene which, for a where the ground is level, to make it so much while, he is unable to define by description or undulating as that the water shall acquire a imitation. motion; at each declivity the water should be carried off through hollow drains to the sides. The distance between these artificial mounds must be determined by practical experiments. Here I give you my proposed improvements in the art of road making. These undulations, I believe, will turn out to be a great relief to AMERICAN RAILROAD JOURNAL, &c. the horses. A road so constructed will not be Old Pear Trees; Political Economy; Misconstruction Foreign Intelligence .202 .204 .205 Meteorological Record: Marriages and Deaths; Sales of NEW-YORK, MARCH 30, 1833. .208 We shall give in our next a description, with engravings, of the "New-York Patent Guard Rail," of which we have before spoken. It is considered, by some of our most distinguished Engineers, a great improvement upon the Iron Rails heretofore in use. liable to get out of repair. Once well made, it J. S. How strange is it that the Tuccoa Falls and Table Mountain are not more familiar to Americans! Either of them would distinguish an empire or state in Europe. The Canal of Gotha.-This canal, one of the greatest undertakings of Europe, has just been completed in all its breadth, from Gottenburg on the Cattegat to after the labor of twenty years. It traverses Sweden Soderkoping on the Baltic, and has been executed at an expense of 10,000,000 of rix dollars. In joining the two seas, the Canal of Gotha opens to trade a shorter and safer passage to the Baltic than that of the Sound, which obliges vessels to double the southYours, &c. ern coast of Sweden. By the canal, on the other hand, the navigation is all inland, and therefore more NATURAL WONDERS.-It is very surprising commodious and secure. But a main question to that two of the greatest natural curiosities in trade rises on this point regarding the expense. The the world are within the United States, and opening of the Sound has been made by nature, the yet scarcely known to the best informed of ge-penditure of human labor. Duties to indemnify for passage by the canal has been formed at a great exographers and naturalists. The one is a beau- its cost, it might be supposed, would be levied on the We are indebted to CHARLES H. HAMMOND, tiful water-fall in Franklin county, Georgia; latter from which the former is exempt; but this is Esq. of Bennington, Vt., for the interesting and the other a stupendous precipice in Pendleton not the case, as the following comparative table will district, South Carolina: they are both faintly show: valuable letter from J. LOUDON M'ADAM, Esq. mentioned in the late edition of Morse's Geo- Comparative table of the duties of the Sound and of of Hertfordshire, England, upon the subject of graphy; but not as they merit. The Tuccoa those of the Canal of Gotha. road making, which will be found in this num-falls are much higher than the falls of Niagara. ber of the Journal. It will, we are sure, with-The column of water is propelled beautifully Over a perpendicular rock, and when the out any solicitation on our part, be read with stream is full it passes down without being great pleasure by all who take an interest in broken. All the prismatic effect seen at Niathe improvement of our system of road making, gara illustrates the spray of Tuccoa. The Taemanating as it does from a gentleman of intel-ble Mountain in Pendleton district, South Carligence, and long experience in the business olina, is an awful precipice of 900 feet. Many upon which he writes. persons reside within five, seven, or ten miles of this grand spectacle, who have never had curiosity or taste enough to visit it. It is now, however, occasionally visited by curious travellers, and sometimes men of science. Very few persons who have once cast a glimpse in In addition to this saving in duties by the canal, we the almost boundless abyss can again exercise sufficient fortitude to approach the margin or need not observe that the diminished risk to the the chasm. Almost every one, in looking over, shipping will allow a saving in the premiuus of ininvoluntarily falls to the ground, senseless, attention of the ship owners and merchants of this surance. These considerations cannot escape the nerveless, and helpless; and would inevitably country, who employ on an average, in the Baltic be precipitated and dashed to atoms, were it trade, the number of 2,400 vessels, with a tonnage not for measures of caution and security, that of nearly half a million. The trade to Russia and have always been deemed indispensable to a northern Prussia may infallibly be expected to pursue To construct a good road still continues to safe indulgence of the curiosity of the visitor this route as soon as its advantages are known and be a desideratum. The following mode of ef-llor spectator. Every one, on proceeding to thell appreciated.-[London Times.] road Journal. [For the American Railroad Journal.] RAILROADS FOR THE APPLICATION OF HUMAN POWER. a a The force of traction necessary to propel ton weight on a level railroad is about eight pounds; or, in other words, a man can propel ton weight on a level railroad as easily as he can walk on that road, and draw up eight pounds over a pulley. To surmount an ascent 66 feet in a mile, would require in addition the force necessary to raise 28 pounds over a pulley But as we know better how much a man may actually draw on a common road, the proposition may be stated thus: that a man may propel one ton on a level railroad as easily as he can draw 112 lb. on a common road. It will not be extravagant then to assume that a man may propel one ton weight on such railroads as it would be practicable to make in our country. To make a railroad with the tracks, but 34 feet apart, sufficiently strong to sustain cars holding but one ton each, and moved by human strength, would not cost a large sum per mile. I venture to calculate that if such railroads should come into extensive use, they would not cost for double tracks more than 2000 dollars a mile on an average. Huddersfield-from Ramsden's Canal, at Hud 257. Kennet and Avon-from the Avon, at Dole made, by those who have resources to make the||price of coals at Ledbury was reduced from 24s. [From Partington's British Cyclopædia.] CANALS OF GREAT BRITAIN. (Continued from page 180.) Grand Junction-A part of the line between But would they answer any purpose as chan- London and Liverpool, from Brentford to the nels of trade? Let us see. If there should be a Oxford Canal at Braunston; made 1805, length steady stream of cars, each containing one ton, 93 miles, ascent and descent 587 feet, or 6.3 and moving over the railroad at the rate of but per mile, breadth 36 24 feet, depth 43. It has 101 locks; passes the river Ouse and its valley two miles an hour, and ten rods apart, 600 tons by an embankment about half a mile in length, might pass over in ten hours, and then, except- and 30 feet high. It has a tunnel at Blisworth, ing the sabbaths, at this rate 187,800 tons might||3080 yards in length, 18 feet high, and 16 pass over in a year; and on the supposition wide: and another at Braunston, 2045 yards that a large city has ten such routes entering it from the country, 1,878,000 tons might come to market on such channels of trade during the year. But the tonnage, domestic and foreign, that departed from the whole United States in 1826, was 1,052,429. Supposing that one-tenth of this departed from Boston, one slight railroad, sufficient for a man to move one ton weight upon it at a time in a car, would convey all its merchandize; and two such railroads would convey to New-York all the goods it would export. If, however, such railroads would be altogether insufficient for large cities, they might be channels of communication between villages in the country, and from small districts of country to great roads. Where there is business enough to employ sufficiently a very large capital, invested in heavy railroads, and powerful steam carriage, steam will be found a cheaper power than human strength; but there is a vastly greater amount of capital required for such and yet the conveyance cannot be indefinitely extended: it must be limited by the population and resources of the country. purposes, at Areley, to Kingston; made 1797, length 45 Kingston and Leominster-from the Severn, miles, ascent and descent 544 feet, or 11.8 per mile. It has two tunnels of 3850, and 1250, Lancaster-from Kirby Kendall to Houghton; made 1799, length 6 m., ascent and descent 287, or 3.8 per mile, depth 7. It has tunnels at Hincaster and Chorley, 800 yards long in the whole. It passes the Loyne by a stone aqueduct, 50 feet high, on 5 arches, each of 70 feet span. It has also a road aqueduct, near Blackmill, 60 feet high. The boats are 56 feet long and 14 broad. Number of shares, 11,699; cost, 471. 6s. 8d.; price in 1833, 221. Leeds and Liverpool-from Liverpool to Leeds; made 1771, length 130 miles, ascent and descent 841 feet, or 6.4 per mile, breadth 42 feet, depth 44 feet. The boats navigating between Leeds and Wigan are of 42 tons burthen; those below Wigan, and on this side Leeds, of 30 tons. The tunnels at Foulbridge and Finnloy are, in the whole, 1609 yards long. It has a beautiful aqueduct bridge over the Ayre. The locks long, the other dimensions being the same as are 70 feet long, and 15 wide. The number those of the Blisworth tunnel. Number of of shares is 28973; originally, 1007. each; price shares, 11,957; originally, £100; price in 1833, in 1833, 4557. Tonnage on merchandise, 14d. 2301. Paddington, branch of above; length 13 per mile; on coals and lime, 1d.; on stone, įd. miles; 6 other branches, length 40 miles. Leicester-from the Loughborough basin to Grand Surrey-from the Thames, at Rother-the Soar, which has been rendered navigable hithe, to Mitcham; made 1801, length 12 miles. as far as Leicester; length 21 miles, ascent It is of large dimensions, being navigable by and descent 230 feet, or 10.7 per mile. Numthe Thames boats. The company pays to the ber of shares, 545; cost, 1407.; price in 1833, Corporation of London, annually, 607. for the|| 1907. junction of the canal with the Thames. Grand Western-from the mouth of the Ex, at Topsham, to Taunton Bridge; made 1796, length 35 miles. Number of shares, 3096; cost, 791.; price in 1833, 287. Leicester and Northamptonshire Unionfrom Leicester to Market Harborough; made 1805, length 433 miles, ascent and descent 407 feet, or 9.3 per mile. It has 4 tunnels, 1056, 990, 880, and 286, in the whole 3212 yerds in length. Number of shares, 1895; cost, 831. 10s.; price Tiverton, branch of the above; length 7 miles. Grand Trunk-a part of the line between in 1833, 887. London and Liverpool; made 1777, length 93 Loughborough-from the Trent, near Sawmiles, ascent and descent 642 feet, or 6.9 perley, to Loughborough; made 1776, length 94 mile. It has 4 tunnels, in length 3940 yards, miles, ascent and descent 41 feet, or 4.3 per and 9 feet wide. Number of shares, 1300; mile. Number of shares, 70; cost, 142. 17s. price in 1824, 21507. The tonnage is from 3d. 8d.; price in 1833, 18007. This canal affords a striking instance of the to 44d. per mile. It has a branch, length 37 mutability of canal property. In 1824, we find Grand Union-from the Leicester and Nor-the shares at four thousand pounds each, they thampton Union Canal, near Foxton, to the Grand Junction, east of Braunston Tunnel; length 234 miles, ascent and descent 130 feet, or 5.5 per mile. Number of shares, 1521; cost, 1007.; price 1824, 501. The canal has, besides, a loan, at 5 per cent. interest, of 19,3277. Grantham-from the Trent, near Holme miles. The cost of a road that shall every where, Pierpoint, to Grantham; made 1799, length 333 over vallies and rivers, be strong enough to sus-mile. It has divided 8 per cent., and left a clear miles, ascent and descent 148 feet, or 4.4 per tain the weight and movements of a car of ten surplus of 3000l. to meet unforeseen accidents. tons weight, must be about ten times as great Number of shares, 749; cost, 150l.; price in as the cost of a road that shall have to sustain 1833, 1957. It is supplied with water wholly at one point but a ton weight. from reservoirs. are now reduced to less than half the money, and this reduction may be mainly ascribed to the increased facilities in coast conveyance. Market Weighton; made 1770, length 11 miles, ascent and descent 35 feet, or 3.2 per mile. Monkland-a continuation of the Forth and Clyde Canal; length 12 miles, ascent and descent 96 feet, or 8 per mile. Monmouthshire-this canal is remarkable for the extent of its railways and inclined planes; made 1796, length 173 miles, ascent and descent 1057 feet, or 53.5 per mile. Number of shares, 2409; cost, 1007.; price in 1833, 1947. It has, besides, a loan of 43,5261. at an interest of 5 per cent. Haslingdon from the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal, at Bury, to the Leeds and Liv. erpool, at Church; made 1793, length 13 miles. Montgomeryshire-from a branch of the ElHereford and Gloucester-from the Severn, lesmere Canal to Newtown; made 1797, length at Gloucester, to the Wye, at Hereford; made 27 miles, ascent and descent 225 feet, or 8.3 1790, length 36 miles, ascent and descent 225 per mile. Number of shares, 700; originally, feet, or 6.1 per mile. It has 3 tunnels, of 2192, 100l.; price in 1833, 851. We should think it absurd to have a huge, heavy pipe, of a foot diameter, to convey water in occasional gushes, when an inch pipe would convey all the water we should desire or could procure, and just as we should need it too. But if some railroads of gigantic dimensions 1320 and 440, making in all 3952 yards. In Welshpool, branch of the above; length 31 are to traverse the country, let the trial bell consequence of the opening of this canal, the||miles. Neath-from the river Neath, at the Giant's||level, having locks to keep in the water at low||wick and Napton Canal, near Warwick, to the Grave, to the Aberdare Canal, at Abernant; tide. It is large enough to receive vessels of Digbeth branch of the old Birmingham Canal; made 1798, length 14 miles. It serves for the 200 tons burthen. Each of its extremities is made 1799, length 25 miles. It has a tunnel at transportation of copper and lead ore from Corn-defended by strong batteries. It was construct- Fazeley 300 yards in length. It has 32 locks. wall to Glamorganshire. Number of shares, ed on account of Bonaparte's projected descent Warwick and Napton-from the Warwick 247; cost, 1077. 10s.; price in 1833, 2857. on England, and hence its name of Royal Mili-and Birmingham to the Oxford Canal; made North Wilts-from the Thames and Severntary Canal. 1799, length 15 miles. Number of shares, 980; Canal to the Wilts and Berks; made 1798, originally, 1007.; in 1833, 2167. length 8 miles. Nottingham-from the Trent, at Nottingham, to the Cromford Canal, near Langley Bridge; made 1802, length 15 miles. Oakham-from Melton Mowbray to Oakham; made 1803, length 5 miles, ascent and descent 126 feet, or 8.4 per mile. Number of shares, 522; cost, 1301. the Shrewsbury-from Shrewsbury to Shropshire Canal; made 1797, length 17 miles, ascent and descent 155 feet or 9 per mile. One half of the ascent is effected by locks, the other half by inclined planes. It has one tunnel. Number of shares, 500; originally, £125; price in 1833, £250. Wey and Arun Junction-from the river Wey, near Godalming, to the north branch of the Arun River Navigation; length 16 miles. Number of shares, 905; cost, 1107.; price in 1833, 221. 10s. Wilts and Berks-from the Kennet and Avon Canal, at Semington, to the Thames and Isis Navigation; made 1801, length 52 miles, ascent and descent 376 feet, or 7.2 per mile. Price in 1823, 4l. 10s. Calne, branch of the above; length 3 miles. Shropshire-from the Severn, at Coalport, to the Shrewsbury Canal, at Downington Wood; Oxford-from the Coventry Canal to the riv-made 1792, length 7 miles, ascent and descent er Isis at Oxford, and a part of the grand line 453 feet, or 60.4 per mile. It has several inbetween Liverpool and London; made 1790, clined planes and railways, but no locks. Price length 91 miles, ascent and descent 269 feet, in 1833, £138. Worcester and Birmingham-from the Seor 2.9 per mile, breadth 30-16 feet, depth 5 feet. Somerset Coal-from the Kennet and Avon vern, at Digilis, below Worcester, to the BirIt has 3 aqueducts of very considerable mag- Canal, at Monkton Coombe, to Paulton: made mingham and Fazeley Canal, at Farmer's nitude, a tunnel at Newbold 125 yards long, 1802, length 84 miles, ascent and descent 138 Bridge; made 1797, length 29 miles, ascent and and 12 feet wide, and one at Fenny Compton feet, or 16.2 per mile. The boats are 72 feet descent 128 feet, or 4.3 per mile, breadth 42 feet, 1188 yards long and 93 feet wide. It rises from long and 7 broad. It has 22 locks. Number of depth 6 feet. Price 851. the level of the Coventry Canal, in 45 miles, shares, 800; original cost, 501.; price in 1833, to the summit at Marston Tolls, 74 feet 1 inch, 1701. Radstock, branch of the above; length 7 by 12 locks; and descends from the summit at miles, ascent and descent 138 feet, or 18.4 per Claydon, in 35 miles, to the Isis, 1954 feet, by||mile. 30 locks. It has 188 stone and brick bridges. Southampton and Salisbury-from the Itchin, ber of shares, 1786; originally, 1007.; price in Stafford and Worcester-from the river Se- of the Fazeley Canal, at Huddlesford, to the Hayhead branch-length 54 miles. The works near Yarmouth open an inland Stainforth and Keadby-from the river Trent, navigation in two directions; one 30 miles, by Portsmouth and Arundel--from the river at Keadby, to the Don, at Fishlake; made 1798, the Yare, the other 20 miles by the Waveney, Arun, near Little Hampton, to the bay connec- length 15 miles. without a lock. The river Yare discharges at ted with Portsmouth Harbor; made 1815, length Stourbridge-from the Stafford and Worces-Yarmouth, about 30 miles below Norwich, but 14 miles. Number of shares, 2520; cost, 501. ter Canal, at Stourton, to the Dudley Canal; the navigation is obstructed by shoals and shiftRamsden's-from the Calder and Hebble Na-made 1776, length 5 miles, ascent and descent vigation to the Huddersfield Canal; made 1774,191 feet, or 38.2 per mile, breadth 28 feet, depth length 8 miles, ascent and descent 56 feet, depth||5 feet. It has 20 locks. Number of shares, 7 feet. 300; originally, 2451.; price in 1833, 1907. Stover-from the river Teign, at Newtown, to Bovey Tracey; made 1792, length 64 miles, ascent and descent 50 feet, or 8 per mile. Chudleigh, branch of the above; length 51⁄2 miles. Regent the last link, near London, of the chain connecting that city and Liverpool; made 1820, length 9 miles, ascent and descent 86 feet, or 9.5 per mile. It commences at Paddington, from the Grand Junction Canal, and meets the Thames at Limehouse, descending, by 12 locks, to a basin communicating with a ship lock. The locks have double chambers, which are estimated to make a saving of nearly one-half the usual quantity of water. It has two tunnels, one at Maida Hill, 370 yards long, the other under Islington, 900 yards. Number of shares, 12,294; cost, 407. 10s.; price in 1833, 167. 10s. Ripon from the river Ure, at Miiby, to Ripon; made 1767, length 7 miles. ing sands at its mouth. To avoid these obstructions, the river is to be made navigable for seaborne vessels from Norwich to a place 20 miles lower down the river, called Reedham Ferry, where a new cut of 2 miles is to be made across the marshes, to join the river Waveney at St. Olave's Bridge, whence the water communication proceeds by a small stream (Oulton Strudwater-from the river Severn, at Fra- Dyke), and two lakes (Oulton Broad and Lothmiload, to the Thames and Severn Canal ating,) from the latter connected with the sea by a Wallbridge; made 1796, length 8 miles, ascent channel 700 yards long and 40 feet wide, with a and descent 108 feet, or 13.5 per mile. Price sea lock 50 feet wide in the clear, and 24 feet in 1833, 5107. deep, for the purpose of admitting sea-borne vesSwansea-from Swansea Harbor to Hen sels. Oulton Dyke, and Oulton Broad, are to Noyadd; made 1798, length 17 miles, ascent be deepened. The lock constructed at the outand descent 366 feet, or 20.9 per mile. Like let of Lake Lothing makes an artificial harbor, the Neath Canal, it serves to transport copper the first that has been formed in England. This ore from Cornwall to Glamorganshire founde-lock has folding gates pointing both landward ries. Number of shares, 533; originally, 1007.;||and seaward, so as to admit of vessels passing price in 1833, 1857. Liansamlet, branch of the in or out at any time of tide, and whether the above, length 3 miles. water be higher on the outside or inside. Rochdale-from the Bridgewater Canal, in the town of Manchester, to the Calder and Hebble Navigation, at Sowerby Bridge; made Tavistock-from the river Tamar, at Cal1804, length 31 miles, ascent and descent 613 stock, to Tavistock; made 1810, length 41 ft. or 19.7 per mile. It has 49 locks, 8 aqueducts, miles, ascent and descent 237 feet, or 52.7 per We understand that Sir David Brewster has, a tunnel 70 yards in length, and several reser-mile. It has a tunnel at Morwellham, 460 feet within this last week, made two very remarkvoirs. Number of shares, 5631; cost, £85; below the surface. This tunnel led to the dis-able discoveries, which promise to be of some price in 1833, £88. shares, 350; originally, 1007. Mill Hill, branch covery of a copper mine. Its boats are 15 Royal Irish-from Dublin, in a westward di-feet in length, and in breadth. Number of rection, to the Shannon, at Tasmonbarry, nearly parallel to the Dublin Canal, and about 10 miles distant from it; length 68 miles, ascent and descent 614 ft. or 9 per mile. Its greatest elevation above the sea is 307 feet, to which it ascends from Dublin by 26 locks, and descends to the Shannon by 15 locks. Thames and Medway-from the Thames, at Gravesend, to the river Medway; made 1800, length 84 miles. Number of shares, 2670; cost, 421. 9s. 5d. ; price in 1824, 261. This canal has loans to a large amount. use to science. In a new salt discovered by Dr. William Gregory, viz. an oxalate of chronium anc potash, he has detected the extraordinary property, that one of its images formed by double refraction is of a bright scarlet, while the other image is of a bright blue color. In examining the pure liquid, any hydrous nitrous acid, prepared in the manner which is supposed to yield it in its purest state, he found that the Sankey-from the Mersey and Irwell Navi- Thames and Severn--from the Stroudwater acid actually consisted of two separate fluids, gation, at Fiddler's Ferry, to Sutton Heath Canal to the Thames and Isis Navigation; made one of which was heavier than the other, and Mines; made 1760, length 124 miles, ascent and 1789, length 30 miles, ascent and descent 377 possessed a much higher refractive power.— descent 78 feet or 6.2 per mile, breadth 48 feet, feet, or 12.3 per mile, breadth 40-30 feet, depth When the two fluids were shaken, they formed depth 5 feet. It has 10 locks, and also a tunnel, 5 feet. The boats are of 70 tons burthen, being an imperfect union, and separated again by near St. Helen's. It was the first canal con-80 feet long and 5 broad. It has a tunnel at being allowed to remain at rest. What the sestructed in England. Sapperton, 250 feet below the top of the hill of cond fluid is remains to be investigated. It Shorncliff and Rye, or Royal Military-from rock under which it passes. The bottom of this may perhaps turn out to be an entirely new the sea, at Hythe, to the mouth of the river tunnel is an inverted arch. Price 291. substance. Its physical properties are now Rother; made 1809, length 18 miles. It is all Warwick and Birmingham-from the War-under investigation.--[Caledonian Mercury.] my country. As an acknowledgment of my obligation to you for your favorable opinion, I take the liber exceeding five men, one of whom, selected by all of the States to attempt the introduction of intendent. themselves under the orders of an efficient officer, are attentive and careful in their conduct, but very soon throw off their circumspection when only under the authority of trustees, who occasionally, superficially and unskilfully, look into their accounts, and are quite unequal to the necessary task of comparing the extent and quality of the work done with the money expended, or of giving a little direction to the work when they find it defective. The general surveyor should be a well inWhen the improvement of roads commenced formed young gentleman, entering into life in England in 1815, the cost of repairing the with a value for character, and having connecty of explaining to you the difficulty, I had al-Bristol roads (178 miles) was about £19,000 tions and a station that would place him beyond most said the impossibility, of transmitting a annually, the roads then in such a condition as the reach of suspicion himself, and give him proper and effectual knowledge of road making by writing, so as to convey such a body of in- to be almost all under notice of indictment at the consequence and authority so absolutely formation as will enable a person to act upon £13,000, including salaries for management. present the annual cost for repairs is about necessary for the due discharge of his duty in defending the interest of the public, in addition it in every case and on every emergency that occurs; and unless the party directing be posI took the charge as general surveyor of the to all the detail of the duties of a sub-surveyor, sessed of this knowledge, he will be constantly British roads in 1815, and was obliged to in- in which he ought to be thoroughly informed; in danger of misdirecting in some seemingly struct all the sub-surveyors, (nine in number;) he must be an expert accountant, so as to be trivial matter that deranges the works and de- they again instructed others, by which process able to keep an effectual and steady control feats the object contemplated. However well we obtained, after a few years, some skilful over the weekly accounts of the sub-surveyors; his theory may be based on true principles, a surveyors. We have found, experimentally, compare the work done with the money paid, practical man must also know, intimately, the that from one to two years are necessary for with such skill as to preclude the possibility of value of every species of service to be perform-instructing a sub-surveyor, according to his di- extensive imposition proceeding for any length ed by workmen, as compared with the value of ligence and ability; and even when instructed, of time undiscovered. This service can only labor in the country; it is in vain to expect ecoit is prudent to place him for some time near a be performed effectually by a gentleman pernomy to be obtained in road making, unless the more experienced surveyor, or more immedi- fectly qualified; and the sub-surveyors feeling whole work be done by the laborers by piece-ately under the inspection of the general superwork. Whenever day labor is the system, extravagant expenditures and boundless profusion The system followed by my family and mywill be the consequence. self is to take charge, as general surveyors, of The sub-surveyor, whose duty it is to be con-a number of district of roads, or, as called in stantly present where the work is proceeding, England, trusts; upon these we keep one or ought to be able to fix the price of work by more surveyors, according to the number of weight or measurement, and to make fair and miles and the work in each trust. We employ at equitable bargains with the workmen, by which present under my sons, grandsons, and myself, they may be enabled to earn the reasonable wa-about a hundred sub-surveyors, and have in ges of the country, using a proper degree of charge a considerable number of roads both in Sub-surveyors should be selected from the industry; and the sub-surveyor ought to be a England and Scotland; but our system is by class of yeomen in England-in America of very good judge of the quality of the work, so no means universal: many sets of trustees are respectable farmers: their early acquaintance as to insure to the public the proper value as attached to old surveyors, many to old prac- with agricultural management has been found well as quantity of labor for the money. tices. Economy and improvement have yet a useful. The duty of the sub-surveyor is miThe sub-surveyor must have a perfect know.great field to conquer in Britain-in your re nisterial; he is to take the orders of trustees ledge of what work is necessary to be done, cent country you have fewer obstacles to en- through the general surveyor, and to possess and the manner and cost of its performance; counter. the skill and experience requisite to have the he must be able to give to new and unpracticed The importance of skilful and respectable su- work performed in a proper manner, and at a workmen such instructions, and to supply perintendence in the officers of roads is ill un- fair price; to be able to measure work correctthem with such tools, as may enable them, with derstood in this country-deep-rooted abuses, ly, and to settle with the laborers. His knowdue industry, to earn fair wages at reasonable old prejudices, and some great defects in our ledge of figures should be such as to enable prices. system of road law as to contract, have all con-him to keep an intelligible account, to fill up He must also have good practical experience tributed to prevent the whole benefit we might correctly the form of the weekly account in draining a road; difficult as it may be to ex-derive from good roads at a moderate cost, not- which he will be furnished with, and to deliver plain the other branches of road making, this it withstanding the experience of eighteen years. it, in duplicate, every fortnight, to the general is impossible to describe or to teach by any I am not acquainted with the laws and regu-surveyor: one copy to be delivered to the treaother process than experience, under a skilful lations under which the roads in the United surer, the other to remain as a record with the person; the shape of the country, the section States are managed; perhaps their care depends general surveyor, at all times open to the inof the road, its situation in respect to the adja-upon the Legislature of each individual State, spection of trustees and others intrusted. cent grounds, the nature of the soil, and many perhaps upon a still smaller subdivision of au- Experience during eighteen years practice minor considerations, vary so often in every thority, whereby it may be difficult to make an has instructed us in many particulars that appart of the same road and country, that the exertion for attainment of the practical science pear trivial, but which we find to be very impractice can be described and defined by no necessary for the general interest; but if such portant in making a road solid, impervious to fixed rules or instructions. If the sub-surveyor an exertion could be made on an efficient scale, water, smooth in the surface so as to be easily be not a practically skilled drainer, the road he I am persuaded it would be of infinite benefit travelled upon, and consequently kapt in repair has the charge of will neither be good, durable, in producing immediately, at a reasonable ex-at a reasonable expense. Some theoretic opinor preserved economically, unless his superior pense, serviceable roads which could be upheld ions, at first adopted, have been corrected— officer, the general surveyor, takes on himself at a cheap rate. It would also prevent the in- others given up as erroneous; the science of this duty of directing the operation, which I and troduction of improper plans of road work, road making is still capable of improvement my family have been frequently obliged to do. which are frequently found difficult to be eradi- for the benefit of mankind. Our plan of distributing piece-work among||cated. the workmen is to employ them in gangs, never Your magnificent river, canal, and railroad Should it be practicable to induce one or conveyances, will not supersede common instruction that will ever be found effectual. roads; those great works promote industry,||of the screw; and one which will produce a mentioned to be a simple and safe agent for wealth, and population. Communications must greater amount of power, at less expense of the security of our fellow citizens against the be multiplied to answer the increased demands friction, and with less complexity of construc- continual losses of life and property to which tion, than any other. As the common screw is they are liable.-[Brooklyn Advertiser, L. I.] of commerce, and connect those important familiarly considered as a wedge applied to the works. America will require a number of circumference of a cylinder, so this may be ROWLAND'S FORCING PUMP.-According to stoned roads in proportion to the extension of viewed as a wedge applied to the circumference her other great improvements; and it will in the of a frustum of a cone, and may be called a of the power of this machine to supply the enpublic notice, a trial was made on Wednesday conic or wedge-screw. AB is such a screw, end be greatly conducive to economy and good tapering from A to B, and having precisely the gines in case of fire, and the extent to which it effect, if, at once, the states should take deci- same interval between all the turns of the thread. would propel the water through the hose. The ded measures to have a certain number of per- The head is furnished with holes for hand-hose was laid in Chapel street, a thousand feet sons practically instructed, which is the only spokes to work the screw with. CD is the nut, in length, extending from the mill in Union st. formed in two parts, which separate easily. to Forbes' buildings, corner of Church and The eye of the nut is a frustum of a hollow Chapel streets. At the signal given, the pump Having resided fourteen years in America, cone, accurately similar to the smaller extre- was set in motion-in two minutes the water and having seen the effect of severe frost and mity of the screw, as far as regards the angu- minutes the engine began to play on the buildreached the extent of the hose, and in four sudden thaws on roads, I am quite safe in as-lar inclination of the sides of each to their ressuring you that more skill and care in the conpective axes, as seen in a longitudinal section; ings, throwing the water upon the roof of struction of roads are required in America serted into the nut, the former is only a tangent enough for two or three. The immense imporbut different in this, that when the screw is in- Forbes' four stories-the pump furnishing much more than the engine could deliver, probably than in England. I have read in the Railroad Journal of New-worked round, it gradually forces the parts of tance of this machine, in case of fire, is now so York, of 18th August, 1832, Vol. 1, No. 34, a the nuts asunder until the thicker end has come decidedly established, that we think our city kind of controversy, about a road called the and screw must be found to coincide. between them, when the surfaces of the nut authorities can no longer delay in securing its benefits. For supplying water, it is worth all Third Avenue: if that road be constructed as In the figure the arcs F F and G G' are arcs trust that the niggardly policy of saving two or the other means in the city combined; and we described by one of the disputants, I must say of a sectional circumference of the thickest part three hundred dollars and leaving hundreds of that there has been much labor and expense be-of the screw. A section of the smaller end is thousands in jeopardy will no longer be purstowed in giving the road every possible chance sued, by the guardians of the public weal. The advantages of the pump can be extended with of being rough in the surface, and consequent equal facility in every direction, and we believe ly inconvenient for carriages, and also providsimilar improvements may be made in other ing abundantly for the mischievous effect of parts of the city, by which all may derive equal frost, by securing a lake of water under it, and benefit and protection.-[New-Haven Herald.] the consequence of its erroneous formation will be great unnecessary expense. to the latter. When the screw is inserted and In case of the adoption of any measures for sending persons from the United States to this country for instruction, they should be careful ly selected from those who have had no opportunities of imbibing previous notions, or ima-dependent of what enters the nut before action, gining that they have any knowledge of the the number of threads in that length as 30, the work they are sent to learn. I have the honor to be, sir, A D seen as inserted in the nut; the dotted circle distance from the centre of the head to the end a structed a speaking head of brass. Albertus Magnus is said to have executed a head in the thirteenth century, which not only moved but spoke. It was made of earthen ware, and SELF-ACTING FIRE ALARM.-An invention, Thomas Aquinas is said to have been so terriNew Modification of the Power of the Screw.christened with this name, was brought to this fied when he saw it, that he broke it in pieces, office last week for short exhibition. The pur-upon which the mechanist exclaimed, "these, By . M. [From the London Mechanics' pose of the machine is to give timely alarm Gods! the labor of thirty years."-Dr. Brewster Magazine.] when fire occurs in any part of the house in supposes, that the sound was conveyed to these The printer has made an erroneous substitu- which it is placed. Only one is necessary to machines by pipes from a person in another tion of c 200 and d 200" for "c 201 and d 200," house of the largest size, and if rightly put up, apartment to the mouth of the figure.-[Sir D. in the article describing my proposed improve- cannot fail to give seasonable warning of the Brewster's Letters on Natural Magic.] ment of Hunter's screw-press, which has, I approaching danger. It is intended to be locafear, rendered that article somewhat unintelli- ted in the sleeping-room of the "man of the gible. Before I proceed to notice the figures house," and if desired, will also answer the NEW ELECTRO-MAGNETIC EXPERIMENT.— above, I beg to remind those who may take the purpose of a fashionable and convenient look- Professor Emmet, of the University of Virginia, trouble to read the article alluded to, that, as I ing-glass. Its communication with the other has succeeded in so arranging the horse-shoe stated, the construction given is not the best of apartments is accomplished by means of small magnet as to enable him to obtain, at pleasure, several: I have one in reserve, which meets two cords, which pass entirely round each room in brilliant scintillations, nearly as perfect as those capital objections, which I anticipated as likely the upper corners of the walls, and are sup-produced by the flint and steel. The most reto be urged against the practical utility of the ported by small pullies. Whenever a room markable discovery, however, is a sure mode of improvement-one, the great apparent increase takes fire the string burns off, and this puts the giving strong and even unpleasant shocks, of friction, the other the danger of the square "Alarm" in operation, and unless the tenant is which bear great resemblance to those from a production of the screw twisting under a very an uncommon sleepy fellow, his house may be voltalic pile of about 100 pairs of plates. Some severe strain. I beg to add further, that I esti- saved with very little trouble. A further de- other results, tending to show that this new mate the power of the press, according to the scription at this time, is perhaps unnecessary, force has properties intermediate between those data given, at upwards of 20,000 tons. as the advertisements and handbills already be- of Electricity and Galvanism, have been obtainThe prefixed figures represent what, I before the public may be referred to. As far as ed and will shortly be made public.-[National lieve, is quite a new modification of the power our opinion goes, we believe the invention above Gazette.] |