STEAM-CARRIAGE. Very early in the history, of steam-locomotion, projects were formed for running steam-earriages on common roads—not to draw a train of vehi cles after them, but each carriage to have passenger-accommodation as well as steam power. Robison suggested such a thing to Watt so far back as 1759. A French inven tor, Cugnot, tried a steam-ca•riage at Faris in 1770, which went with so much force as to dash down a brick wall, and thereby deter other inventors. In 1782, Murdoch exhibited a model of a steam carriage; in 1784, Watt described his plans for another; and in 1786 Symington produced a model of a third. In the last-named year, too. Oliver Evans announced certain projects of the kind in the United States. In 1802, Messrs. Trevethick and Vivian patented a-steam-carriage, planned on a much bet ter principle than any that had preceded it; they adopted high-pressure steam, of which previous inventors had been afraid. The carriage was tried, but the ingenious patentees received very little encouragement., and soon turned their attention to railway matters. A long interval then passed without my new inventions in this kind of road-locomotion. When Telford and other engineers had imp-Dyed the roads and higlpa ays, inventors were again induced to apply steam-power as a substitute for horse-power to road-vehicles. Bramah made a steam-carriage in 1821. on a plan patented by Julius Griffiths. Gordon invented one in 1822. which worked something like a squirrel in a cage,' the engine being within a cylinder which rolled along the ground; and another in 1824, which appeared to walk upon six iron legs. Goldsworthy, Gurney, Burstall, hill, -Tames, Hancock, Summers, Ogle, lleaton. Church, Dance, Field, Squire, Maceroni, Scott Rus sell, Hills, Sir Junes A nderson—all invented new forms of steam-carriage between 1824 and 1841. Some of these displayed great ingenuity, and attained a speed -of 10 or 12 miles an hour on common turnpike roads. Sir Charles Dance ran such a carriage Gloucester and Cheltenham in 1831, doing the 9 miles in 55 minutes: but the oppo sition of local interests pat him down, alter he lied made 400 suell trips without an acci dent, and carried a very large number of passengers. in the same year Mr. Hancock began his stenm-earriage, called The Lop at, regularly between London and Stratford; and some time afterward, Mr. Scott Russell ran his invention between Glas gow and Paisley. All the-e three were passenger-veldeles which plied for traffic on the road. In the very numerous inventions from time to time brought forward, the passen gers were in some cases seated in front of time engine and boiler; in others, they were tented behind; in others, time tank for water was placed beneath the passengers' feet; while in a fourth kind there was a passenger-earriage, distinct from, but linked to, the steam-locomotive. None of the inventions, however, attained to commercial success, so
many were the difficulties which beset them.
last quarter of a century has exhibited inventions rather for heavy traction than for passenger steam-carriages. One of the most remarkable of the latter kind is that which the earl of Caithness drove, in 1864, from Inverness to his seat near Thurso. It carried three or four persons, and ascended and descended very steep inclines without much variation of speed. As a question of profit or commercial advantage the inventors of such engines now look to their employment on common roads, for draggingheavy loads. Numerous patents-have been taken out, with this view, by Boydell, Bray, Clay ton, Burrell, Fowler, Aveling, R. W. Thomson, and others. In Mr. Thomson's engines, or "road-steamers," the wheels are encircled by a complete ring, or tire, of india-rubber, protected on the outside by a flexible sheath of steel plates. As engines for drawing very heavy weights these have proved the most powerful yet invented, and several of them by 1874 were constantly at work in Glasgow, dragging enormously heavy castings and boilers from the workshops of the engineers to the railways or wharves. In ordi nary work, however, the road-steamers can hardly be said to have been a success. The expense connected with the renewal of the india-rubber tires, and the oth'er parts worn by the constant jolting on common roads, has told very much against their adoption. Of traction engines with iron wheels, Fowler's and Aveling's are those most used. They are very simple in construction, and cheap in comparison to Thomson's, although not capable of doing the exceptionally heavy work we have just mentioned. Great endeavors are now being made to design an engini suitable for use upon .tramway lines laid down on common roads, but as yet without complete success. Several acts of par liament have been passed to regulate the use of locomotives upon common roads. Their regulations at first were severely restrictive, framed apparently rather to dis courage than to encourage enterprise. Now, however, that the engines are improved, and their use more understood by the public, the popular feeling against the engines, which caused this legislation, is rapidly disappearing.