Several successive patents have been taken by Dr. Church for improvements connected with locomotive carriages ; but we regret to state that we have hitherto met with nothing hi his arrangements which the eulogies of the press led us to hope for; but, on the contrary, moat of the contrivances appear to us to be rather • s than improvements in practical science. The very stale and unprofi e idea of propelling upon spheroidal wheels (made so by com pression), and thus converting, in effect, a hard level surface into a constant hill, we should never have suspected to emanate from the mature and philoso phic mind of the patentee.
It has been stated in the public papers, that Dr. Church's carriage has recently been tried in the streets of Birmingham, and that it performed very steadily; how far the arrangements in that • correspond with the description contained in the patents, we are not in ed ; but we suspect there must have been a radical reform to enable the machine to work at all. A beautifid print of Dr. Church's carriage was published in Birmingham by an artist named Lane, a copy of which is given in the Mechanics Moraine, No. 533.
The next invention we have to record, emanated from the prolific mind of Mr. William Henry James, of Birmingham ; it blossomed fairly, but the embryo fruit never came to maturity, we believe, to a deficiency of tha• metallic nutriment which is indispensable to the suceesslid culture of steam carriages. The specification of his patent (which was dated the 15th of August, 1832,) is too voluminous, and the illustrative drawings too elaborate, to enable us even to condense an intelligible description within the space allowed us. We must, therefore, briefly state that the chief feature is a powerful high pressure boiler, formed of a horizontal tier of casbiron plates, ingeniously cast with tubular cavities in the body of the metal, and throughout its area. These cavities hold, the water to be vaporised, which is constantly made to flow throughout the tier, by an hydraulic apparatus which the inventor denominates a " heart-pump." The fire operates upon the entire bottom surface of each water-plate, and the steam is collected in the highest plate, to which, in addition w the usual appendages, is a steam pip* leading to a trumpet, which is sounded by the motion of a lever operating upon a valve at the induc tion orifice. For the other ingenious arrangement of the carriage, we must refer the reader to the enrolled documents.
A very singular and interesting proposition has been made by Mr. Richard BadnaII, for travelling upon undulating lines of railway in preference to straight or level lines, with the view of saving locomotive power, by the appli cation of the natural force of gravity in the descent, eo as to obtain a great momentum in making the succeeding ascent. His plan is best explained by himself in the specification of a patent, dated the 8th of September, 1832, which he obtained for that object.
" If a plummet suspended by a string, as in Fig. 1, in the annexed engrav ing, from the point a, be drawn away from the perpendicular line to the point a, and there let go, it will fall by its gravity to b, in the arc a b; but in its falling, it will have acquired so much momentum, as will carry it forward up to a similar altitude at the point c.
"Let it be supposed that a line of rails, or tram-way for • be so con structed from the summit of two hills, as lig. 2, across a valley, at the descent from one hill, as a, to the valley b, shall asmd • similar single from the hori zontal line to the ascent up the other hill from b to c. Now if a train-waggon, as d, be placed at the summit of thee declivity a, it will, by its gravity alone, run down the descending line of rails to the lowest point b; but, in so nmning, according to the principles of the oscillating pendulum, it should have acquired a momentum that would carry it forward without any additional fame up the ascending line to the summit of the hill c, being at the same altitude as the hill a It is quite certain that this would really take place if the force acquired by the momentum was not impeded by the friction of the wheels of the carriage upon their axles, and upon the rails on which they run. Hence, subtracting the amount of friction as a retarding force from the momentum which the car riage has acquired in descending from a to b, it will be perceived, that the force of momentum alone would only impel the carriage part of the way up the ascent b c, say as far as a. It must now be evident, the carriage d would not only pass down the descending line of road from a to b, by its gravity, but that the momentum acquired in the descent would also impel it up the second hill as far as a, unassisted by any locomotive power. In order, therefore, to raise the carriage to the top of the second hill, I have only to employ such an impel ling force as would be sufficient to drive it from x to e, the whole expense of locomotive power for bringing the carriage from a to e being saved. If now I employ a locorgptive power to assist in impelling my carriage from a to b, I, by that means, obtain a greater momentum than would result from the descent of the carriage by gravity alone; and are enabled by that means to surmount the hill c, having travelled the whole distance from a to c, on the undulating line of road, with the exertion of much less locomotive power than would have been requisite to have impelled the carriage the same distance upon a perfectly horizontal plane." Having thus explained the principle of his invention, Mr. Badnall claims the formation of tram and railroads, with such undulating curves as are adapted to his object. This invention has been the subject of much able controversy in the Mechanics' Magazine, and some other public journals, of which our limits render it impossible to give any account. The plau sible arguments which were raised in support of the inventor's theory, led to some public trials on the Manchester and Liverpool railway ; which, although con clusive as to its inefficacy in the minds of most persons, who doubted before, has apparently had the effect of confirming the patentee in his prepossessions of its utility.