Mr.AVrightVpatent also includes a rotative engine, to be worked by air or steam, for propelling the carriage, which possesses no peculiarities demanding of notice in this place. The claim as to the application of the locomotive power, relates "to the propelling, drawing, or moving wheel carriages by the agency of compressed air, heated and used in the manner above described." Mr..Clive, of Chell House, Staffordshire, took out a patent on the 1st of July 1830, for " certain improvements in the construction of, and machinery for, locomotive ploughs, harrows, and other machines and carriages," in which his chief objects appear to be twofold ; first, the enlargement of the wheels on which the locomotive engine is supported and moves ; and second, the enlargement of the radius of the crank, by which the rotation of the bearing wheels is produced. He confiders that the bearing wheels might be varied according to circumstances, from about five to ten feet ; and that the radius of the cranks should vary, according to the quality of the road or land, if employed for ploughing and harrowing, on which they are to be employed, from about eighteen to twenty-four inches.
This gentleman has, we believe under the signature of Sauk, written many bgenious papers in the Mechanics' Magassine, in support of his theory, of the necessity of long cranks to the effective_ action of locomotive machines upon (*minion roads where the hills are considerable, or the obstructions of an abrupt nature. It will not accord with our limits to enter the controversy which has arisen upon the' subject ; but we will just briefly state, that from a cursory glance at the matter in dispute, it appears to us that Saelda considers the propelling power is exerted only in a vertical direction downwards ; and that consequently any obstacles, such as a stone lying before the path of a wheel, at a greater distance from the lowest point of it than is the length of the crank cannot by any power, however great, be surmounted. But on the other hand it is contended, that the propelling power acts uniformly throughout the circle, the same as if it were communicated directly by the piston of a rotatory engine.
A machine for " propelling carriages, vessels, and locomotive bodies," was invented and patented by Mr. Robert Crabtree, of Halesworth, in Suffolk, on the 4th of July 1829, the arrangement of which exhibits considerable mecha nical skill ; but the " principle' of its locomotive action having already been patented by Mr. Holland, as described by us in a previous page, Mr. Crabtree's ingenious modification will serve him but little; there is, however, no proba bility that either can be brought to compete with the machinery now in general use, on account of the greater degree of friction and liability to derangement, which numerous reciprocating levers must necessarily cause over the continuous rotatory movement. Mr. Crabtree thus explains the nature of his invention, in
the introduction to his specification :— " This invention consists in a machine or apparatus, or arrangement of mechanism, which is put in motion by means of a pendulum, or lever, acting upon two lever chains, or systems of levers, commonly called " lazy tongs," Which, by their alternate expansive and contractive motion in propelling weights to and fro upon a main beam, balance, or lever, act by means of crank rods upon the cranks of paddle wheels in relation to vessels, and upon common wheels in relation to carriages, and upon toothed wheels, drums, straps, or bands, in relation to fixed machinery ; and also by means of propellers in relation both to vessels and carriages, thereby producing progressive motion." Mr. Crabtree then proceeds, by means of drawings, to show the application of the invention to the propulsion of vessels ; by one method he gives motion to a paddle wheel, and by another to propelling sticks, which are to push out against the ground at the bottom of a canal. Having described these navigating propellers, the patentee observes that, " it is obvious that the same mode of operation equally applies to the propelling of locomotive bodies upon land ; for which purpose, i nothing more is necessary than to apply the cranks to the axes of the carnage wheels, instead of the paddle wheels, or to propel them by the action of the main lever on the propellers." The next candidate for the Royal letters appears to be Mr. John Moore, of the city of Bristol, to whom they were granted on the 30th of September, 1829, for "certain new or improved machinery for propelling carriages ; also for propelling ships, vessels, or other floating bodies, and for guiding propelled carriages, and apparatus for condensing the steam of the steam-engines after it has propelled the steam-engine 'Anton." The details of all these things would occupy too much space, and the quality of the inventions do not seem to require it from our bands; we shall, therefore, briefly notice the principal beads, and refer the reader to the inrolled parchment "for further particulars." The propelling is effected by a series of vibrating levers (actuated by a steam engine), and operating upon the running wheels of the carriage. The mode of "guiding propelled carriages" is by means of a vertical spindle carrying a pulley, around which a cord or chain is passed as well as around other pulleys, by which the frame of the fore wheels is placed at the required obliquity to the perch ; and the mode of condensing the steam, after it has propelled the piston, is by allowing it to escape from the eduction-pipe, into a box opened to the atmosphere.