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: Report of the Tuscumbia, Courtland, and Decatur Rail- .481 Babbage on the Economy of Manufactures (continued) 485 486 TUR RAILROAD. [Continued from last week, page 468.] TUSCUMBIA RAILWAY. manner; and the route between Philadelphia|| TUSCUMBIA, COURTLAND, AND DECA. How to Tin Nails, &c.; Blacking; Agriculture, &c...487 city, through Elizabethtown and Newark. Literary Notices... Foreign Intelligence. Summary.. Poetry; Advertisements. Marriages and Deaths; &c.... 190 192 495 AMERICAN RAILROAD JOURNAL, &c. NEW-YORK, AUGUST 3, 1833. compared with what it is generally through the valley, and that many extraordinary difficulties have to be encountered in the outset, in an enterprize of this character, it is rather to be wondered that it did not cost more. This work extends from Main street, in Tus. cumbia, (and is there connected with the Tus. cumbia, Courtland, and Decatur Railroad,) to the Depot, at the Tennessee river, a distance of about 2 miles. The construction of this road was completed about the 1st of June last, at the aggregate cost of $9,500, being $4,523 85 The time, we hesitate not to say, is not far- per mile, including the building of a viaduct 493 ther distant than the successful completion of over a ravine from 12 to 36 feet high and 274 these roads, when the distance between New- of this work exceeds the estimated cost of the feet long. Here it is seen that the actual cost York and Washington City will be regularly tra- road above this per mile, by $540 85; but when velled in 16 to 18 hours; and, in cases of emer-it is considered that the ground is very rugged, gency, in 12 or 13 hours. Nor is this the only route upon which great improvements will be effected. If we look to the east, or the north, the west, and even to the south, we shall find the same spirit of improvement pervading the The de scription and drawing of the Oxford too, so useful, that nothing can prevent it from people-a spirit so powerful, and, we may add, Railroad, the connecting link between the Co-producing results, equal, at least, in proportion lumbia Railroad in Pa. and the Susquehannah to the improvements of the last twenty years. Railroad in Md. were duly received, for which we are indebted to the engineer of the road, J. the Oxford Railroad, will appear in our next. The report of Mr. Thompson, engineer of E. THOMPSON, Esq. This, although very short, The drawing will be forwarded to Mr.VIGNOLES, is a road of considerable importance, as it of Liverpool, to whom we are desirous of forcompletes the line of railroad, as now author-warding maps and descriptions of every Railroad has been principally accomplished, at a ized, from Washington to Trenton and to Amboy road in the United States. in New-Jersey; and indeed to New-York, ex TO CORRESPONDENTS.-The communications of U. A. B. and Mercator are received, and will appear next week. a Since the completion of the road in June last, the same time, and within a month there have pleasure car has been plying between town and the river. A lumber car was also put upon it at been two other lumber cars received, and are now in use. As to the business and proceeds will no doubt make the necessary exhibits in of this section of the road, I have no accurate information; but the Agent of the Company due time. The gravelling of the horse-path upon this cost of about $128 per mile. A certificate upon the Treasurer on account of this work has. been granted for $59 60. The balance, say $211, will be due when the work is finished and a final estimate given. A cotton shed and car house have been erected in town, at a cost of $535 33, of which there has been paid $335; the balance is due on demand. An order has been sent, with the funds, in cept the short distance from Trenton to New- RENSSELAER AND SARATOGA RAILROAD.Brunswick: and even there, we understand, the This Railroad, which is to extend from Troy to stockholders of the turnpike road have it in Ballston Spa, is soon to be commenced. Surcontemplation to put down rails on a part ofveys have been made, which show that the their road, in order to complete an uninterrup-route of the road is one of the best which nated track from the Commercial to the Political ture has provided. The estimated cost of its emporium of the United States. Even with-constraction is less than $8,000 per mile, ave-accordance with an order from your Board, for out the completion of the last-mentioned por- raging the whole distance. A large proportion tion, the communication from Washington to of the stock, says the Budget, is already taken New-York during the greatest part of the year up, and the whole will be subscribed for as soon will be, we doubt not, equal, if not superior, to as it is put in market. any other route of equal distance of internal communication in the world. THE SPRINGS.-The number of arrivals since The Baltimore and Washington, the Balti- our last has been altogether unprecedented more and Susquehannah, the Oxford, and the not be much, if any, short of 1500; and the during any week of a former year. It can Columbia railroads, or the Chesapeake and De-number in this village at present is probably laware steamboats, in connection with the New-not less than 2500. Our public houses are all castle and Frenchtown railroad, will enable the traveller to perform the route between Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, with great ease, in the shortest period, and easiest possible very much thronged; but the departures being two sets of car wheels, &c. to be procured at PROSPECTS OF THE COMPANY. The contractors, as has been previously remarked, have united their force, and are progressing with the work from Tuscumbia towards the county line; and, although their forces are as yet far short of what is required to accomplish the undertaking in the time sti pulated, I cannot but hope that an adequate||375,250 bales one mile÷5 (the number of bales one mile, which at cent per ton per mile number of hands will be procured in so short a to make a ton)--75,050 tons one mile, and amounts to $6,180 expense of conveyance. time as to insure the completion of the whole 6,000+500×25 miles 162,500 tons one mile; The repairs of the road, as before estimated at by the time promised. then 75,050-4-162,500-237,550 tons, at of a $100 per mile per annum, will be $4,500, and They are now, as they assure me, in expec-cent, is equal to $1781 624, expense of convey- 6,180+4,500 10,680. Now, in order that pas. tation of fully doubling their force in a very ance. Estimating the repairs of the road at sengers shall just pay the above expense, fare short time; should they not be disappointed in $100 per mile per annum, which is 100 × 25 being charged at 4 cents per mile, it will require their expectations, this force, with what they |2,000, and 2,500+1781 62=4281 62, and 6240 94 passengers daily to travel the whole distance could get during July and August, from plant-4281 62-1958 38, surplus; which shows in each direction; and commissioners for reers along the line, would be sufficient to com- that should there be but seven passengers in-ceiving and forwarding being charged on up plete the contract. The road to the county stead of ten each way daily, the expense of con- freight at the rate of 64 cents per 100 lbs., will line must, in any event, be finished by the 1st veyance would be paid. The expense of the make on 15,000 tons=33,600,000 lbs. $21,000, day of June next. Relying upon these favora-agencies and depositories will be more than which will undoubtedly more than suffice to pay ble anticipations, the following prospects are paid for from the commissions received for re-all agency and depot expenses. To accomplish presented, viz. That the Company will have ceiving and forwarding goods, as the following the above assumed transit by locomotives, and 10 miles of the road in operation by the first will show: say 6,000 tons up freight=13,440,- to provide for the maximum period, at least day of June next-exclusive of the Tuscumbia 000 lbs. at an average of 64 cents per 100 lbs. three of those machines would be required, Railway, 2 miles-and that by the first of is $8,400. I have no data "by which I can de- making two trips, or 90 miles per day each, December there will be 22.834 miles finished; termine the actual expense of this part of the from the 1st December to the 1st May; during add the Tuscumbia Railway, 2,1 miles, makes business, but should say the above is certainly the remainder of the year much less power 24.934; or, say 25 miles, of their work com- more than sufficient. Now, if this assumed would be necessary. The above assumption pleted in a little less than two years from the amount of business be correct-of which your of business in the transportation of cotton from date of their charter. The affairs of the Com-Board are the better judges-then there must the counties above the shoals, may at first view pany will then present a very different aspect. be a reduction in the rates, in order that the re-appear extravagant, as it has been generally The expectations of the stockholders of an ac-striction in your charter may be complied with. apprehended that much difficulty and inconve tive and profitable business will be realized, No estimate can at this time be made with ab-nience would attend the getting of freight upon and the whole community, many of whom are solute certainly, and the amount of business the Railroad from the river at Decatur, and now opposed to the work, discovering that upon this road must remain a desideratum, un- that consequently the most of the cotton raised their facilities are much enhanced, will laud the til practical data shall be derived from expe- above the shoals would be lighted through. But enterprize. The following is given as an ap-rience. But this conclusion cannot be resisted, a plau has been conceived, which will, it is proximate estimate of the business upon the that the Company will be enabled to realize a confidently believed, obviate the difficulty alroad, and the profits arising, when finished, to profit fully up to the limits of their charter, viz. most wholly. The following is an outline of the town of Courtland. 25 per cent. per annum. It is difficult to state the mode and manner by which it is to be ef Assuming that there will be conveyed from the amount, or indeed to set a limit to the busi- fected, viz.: The Company will procure a the points named to the Depot, at the termina-ness when the road shall have been accom- steamboat of appropriate powers and dimen. tion of the Railroad, and up freight, as stated plished to Decatur. When we look at the im- sions, which will ply between Decatur and any mense quantity of cotton produced in the Ten- and all the different landings upon the Tennesnessee Valley alone, and the necessary amount see river, between the head of the Muscle of supplies that must be carried to the inhabi- Shoals and Gunter's Landing, wherever freight tants annually, and the certainty that East Ten- may be collected. The plan of the boat to be nessee will avail herself of this channel, both so designed that she may take a certain num to send off her surplus products and to intro-ber of railroad cars, say ten, upon her; which duce her supplies, it is at once evident that the cars, empty or freighted, will be received upon, business upon the road must be very great. or discharged from her, by a proper application The seven counties in the Valley produce be-of her own power, retarding the cars on the tween 80 and 90,000 bales of cotton, viz.: descent, or propelling them on the ascent, upon Franklin, 10,000; Lauderdale, 8,000; Lawrence, the inclined plane, upon which they will meet 15,000; Morgan, 12,000; Limestone, 14,000; the boat from the road, or depot. Upon this Madison, 22,000, and Jackson, 6,000; making plan, all the cotton and other freight delivered 87,000 bales. Now we will suppose that out of the productions of this Valley, there will be transported upon this road, as follows, and other freight as stated. below, From what point Tuscumbia, say Miles con- No. bales No. bales. veyed. 4,000 2 Capt. Lewis' 1,000 6 6,000 Fish Pond, 1,000 8,500 County Line, Town Creek, : upon the banks of the river, within the range of the said boat, would have almost as ready access to the railroad as if it were deposited in the depots and sheds at the head, or along the Bales Proportion Bales Distance Bal. con- said road. In fact, it would give all the facili Counties. produced. carried. carried. carried. v'd 1 m. ties, as to business and intercourse, that an exFranklin, 10,000 9,000 6 54,000 tension of the railroad would, were it continuLawrence, 15,000 12,000 22 264,000 ed to all the points in question. The boat Morgan, 12,000 10,000 35 350,000 should be built upon what is termed the twin Limestone, 14,000 7,000 45 315,000 principle, giving a large deck surface for the reMadison, 22,000 11,000 45 495,000 ception of the cars, and a second deck would Jackson, 6,000 4,500 45 202,500 accommodate passengers, of whom there would Lauderdale, 8,000 be, without doubt, a great number. and $33,505 profit upon $110,813 49, is equal expense will be at the rate of 43.100 of a cent 45 miles of Railway, at It was designed to present an estimate of the 1,680,500 probable amount of business to be done when the road shall have been completed to the coun $25,507 50 ty line, but the space of time between the 1s of June and 1st of December being that por 13,375 00 tion of the year whe!, but little business could be expected to be done upon this portion of the 9,000 00 road, and as it is anticipated that the road will be completed and in operation to Courtland by 60,000 00 the first day of December, it is believed that 2,000 06||the estimate already presented, under that state of the work, will suffice. The whole of the foregoing is respectfully submitted, by DAVID DESHLER, Engineer, &e. Mr. A. Canfield's Description of his Iron Tension Bridge. [Communicated by the Inventor for the Mechanics' Magazine.] Fig. 1 is a projection or side view of the bridge. Figs. 2 and 3, parts of one frame in perspective. Fig. 4, projection of the foot $109,582 50|| of the brace. period at which the power would be employed to Cost of road, the extent of its capacity; and therefore the $109,582 50 profit upon $200.000 capital, is most favorable result is derived, and the pre-equal to 543 per cent. Passengers, as before, sent estimate is presented for the business of will pay the expense of conveyance, and keep the whole year, and consequently an allowance the road in repair; and to show that this is an is due on account of the fluctuations that must ample allowance, the following is given: say The upper horizontal pieces are called 1,650,500 bales-5 (the number of bales to In order, then, to make an ample provision make a ton)=336,100 tons carried one mile, the upper strings. The lower horizontal on the above account, we will estimate the ex-and 5,000+15,000×45-900,000 tons one mile, pieces the lower strings. The upright pieces pense at of a cent per ton a mile; now,||and 336,000+-900,000=1,236,000 tons conveyed the posts. All these may be either chains or occur. ! Fig. 2 abutment. (that is, two on each side of the road-way,) the strength of the first braces will be 50 tons, multiplied by 4, equal to 200 tons; the second brace will sustain one half of this, equal to 100 tons; the third brace one-third, equal to 66-6 tons; the fourth brace onefourth, equal to 50 tons. This (fourth brace) is the point of greatest stress, for the centre has its support on each side. B D To estimate the stress on the abutment, suppose B A to be the upper string, A C the brace, W a weight suspended at A. Now, as the brace is at an angle of 45 de. grees, the weight W causes a horizontal pressure at C, exactly equal to the tension on B A. Suppose now 50 tons on the fourth brace, or at the centre of the bridge, the tension on the B A, or the first brace, will be 200 tons. The horizontal pressure Then, the power acting to turn the abutment on the point D is the difference of the products of 200 tons multiplied into D B, and 200 tons into DC. BC is 8 feet. Suppose D C to be 16 feet, or twothirds of B D: then 200 tons, minus twothirds of 200 tons, gives 66-8 tons for the stress on the abutment. This acts with a le. verage of 24 feet. at C is the same. I have here taken the extreme weight, which is of course many times greater than would ever be put on the bridge. The stress at the abutment from the weight of two frames, without the floor, is 7 1-9 tons. On a pier the pressure would be vertical only. The cost of three frames, (that is, of a bridge with two road-ways,) would be $2,362. This is a matter of certain and simple calculation, by reducing the contents to cubic inches and pounds. The braces (of cast iron) weigh 23,224 pounds. The other parts of wrought iron weigh 15,013 pounds. The castings can be obtained at 5 cents the pound, and the wrought iron at 8 cents. In making this estimate I take the first bars. The oblique pieces are the braces. ||may be left out, as there can be no stress on brace 4 inches square; the upper strings On each side of the road-way the frame is them; and also the lower strings, from the (double) and 2 inches in the section, and all double, that is, it has a double set of braces, abutment to the foot of the second brace. the parts diminishing in a much dess ratio &c. in order to have a wider base at the This leaves all the iron at liberty to contract than the stress upon them. All the parts diand expand without the least strain on any minish towards the centre excepting the low The bars connecting the braces are the part. It is proposed to connect the parts er strings. The stress upon them being cross-bars, see a a a a, Figs. 2 and 3. The last referred to by a spiral spring, that will greatest at the centre of the span. pieces running from the ends of the upper yield an inch or two, with a tension of one cross-bars to the lower end of the post on the or two tons. opposite side of the frame are called the lat- You will observe that there can be not eral braces, see bb bb, Figs. 2 and 3. The the slightest vertical motion in the bridge upper strings are double, and pass round the without an absolute stretching of the iron. head of the first brace, and are secured with In addition to the lateral braces in the In this construction the iron acts only in screws and nuts at the head of the second frames, all the lateral bracing may be put in the direction in which it has the greatest brace. The pieces are supposed to be num- as in any other construction; and to give it strength, viz. a direct tension or a direct bered 1, 2, 3, &c. from the abutments. any longitudinal movement, the frames of thrust, there being not the slightest lateral The first upper strings are firmly attached one half the span must be actually raised strain. The stress upon each part from any to the abutment and to the head of the first up, turning on the head of the first brace as given weight is a matter of simple calculabrace. To the head of the first brace the a centre. tion. Each piece may be proved before it first post is attached, and also the second up- In estimating the strength, and also the is used. The contraction and expansion are per string. To the foot of the first post is stress from the weight of the bridge, I refer effectually provided for, and it appears to keyed the second brace. The head of the to only one side, or one half the span. Of possess every requisite in a bridge. second brace is sustained by the second up-all the results that I have seen, of experi per strings, running from the head of the first ments on the strength of iron, the lowest is brace. The foot of the second brace is pre-25 tons as the strength of a bar an inch vented from moving horizontally by the se-square. Emerson says "34 tons may be The steam engine and spinning jenny will cond lower strings, so that when the span is safely suspended on a rod of iron an inch do more for our national prosperity than all complete the upper strings are acted on by a square. I suppose it will sustain 25 tons; our statesmen and generals. direct tension from the abutment, and the and suppose a bridge of 80 feet span, or ten THE CAPABILITIES OF MACHINERY IN THE lower strings by a tension from the middle braces, each extending over eight feet, and INCREASE OF MANUFACTURES.-In our reof the span. The floor, of either iron or that the upper strings at the abutment are marks last week on open trade with one hunwood, to be supported by the lower cross-two inches in the section, (a little less than dred millions in India, and three hundred one and a half inch round iron,) each and fifty millions in China, we observed that The upper strings, from the head of the string then will sustain twice 25, equal to 50 our manufactures were capable of being incentre braces to the next brace on each side,ltons. But as the stress is on four of them," creased to any extent: that extent is ce bars. AUG. CANField. Paterson, N. J., June 12, 1833. tainly not infinite-it is however indefinite,– wood, and the rail to be secured into these chairs, as at present. But, for further securimight be multiplied by machinery. In the SIR,-It is melancholy to find such men ty, that part of the rail which sits in the chair, and fits into it, and is secured by nuts, and single but important article of cotton, one as Mr. Sullivan encouraging the use of wooden screws, and pins, as at present, is to have a man can now produce two hundred times rails, or, what is inuch the same, timber with long rod of malleable iron fastened to it, and that more goods in a week than he could in 1760, hoops of iron attached to it, while there is any rod made to penetrate deep into the centre of when George the Third ascended the throne. probability of the capital required for a sub- the chair by means of a hole prepared to receive it. The bolt which fastens the rail to the One mill in Manchester can, when all the stantial iron railway being available. It is not chair is to pass through this perpendicular rod. spindles are at work, spin as much cotton for me to say, Mr. Editor, that the cheaper rail-Again, half way between each chair, a brace, thread in a week as would go round the world.. In the manufacture of hosiery, which way in the first cost does not necessarily re- or fastening, in the rail is to be made; at this is seated chiefly in the midland counties of turn the greatest per centage to the subscri- brace should meet the ends of two rods, the Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester, machine- bers, but that what should always be treated other ends of which should be fastened to the chair at each extremity of the rail; thus the ry has reduced stockings one hundred per upon as a very essential item in the first cost rail is fixed in its place by the perpendicular cent. compared with what they were twenty of a railway, is the repairs which are required rod, as far as regards its ends, and it is kept One down in the middle by these diagonal rods, years ago. Owing to machinery, lace, which when finished, and in full operation. was 2s. per yard eight years ago, may now of the greatest drawbacks on such incomes which rise at their junction with the rail, and be bought for 4d.; what was £4 10s. per being those repairs towhich a road of improper dip at each end to the chairs whereto they are secured. It is also necessary to keep the two yard twenty years ago, is now 18d.; and construction is always and continually liable. rails of the road in their true position, with resome kinds may be bought as low as one far- This eats up the returns and burdens the trade, gard to each other, and this is effected by hori. thing per yard! Woollens have experi- and incenses the traders, and perplexes the zontal roads of the same material with the enced less reduction in price than any other other, capable of bearing the same weight and company; so that any one who has had exkind of wearing apparel. At a paper manusustaining a similar force; and these are seperience in railways, will agree with me that, cured to the rail at the braces, that is, where factory in Hertfordshire, a quantity of pulp while there is any probability of the capital ne- the junction of the diagonal rod with the rails one. can, at a distance of 27 feet from the ciscessary for an iron road being subscribed, it is is formed, and so past from the brace on this tera in which it lays, be converted in three by far the most economical to the subscribers, side of the road, to the brace on that, binding minutes, by machinery, into a sheet of paper since its returns are in a greater ratio than the the two rails together; or, the ends may be seready to be written upon! Such is the con-other--its liability to accidents, and charge of cured to the opposite chair with the same eftinual advancement made in the Manchester renewal and management, being comparatively feet. The whole of these braces, chairs, bolts. manufactures by machinery, that the trade inconsiderable. It is better to have a wooden and rods, form what is called a compound railsay, if the manufacturer were to leave ma- railway than no railway at all, in as much as a road, and though, in the first instance, increas nufacturing for a few years, he would be wooden railway is superior to an ordinary road.ing the cost, yet as they prevent the necessity When traffic is at all considerable, any im-of repair, and greatly add to security, durabili quite lost upon returning into it again. Railroads are machinery, and their adoption and provement, however imperfect, has been found ty, and utility of the road, the suggestion is an worthy of attention, and while money could important one.-[New Monthly Mag.] extension will tell upon the price of manu- not be had to form a good road, it was very The RailroaD.-The number of passenfactured goods. Although the improvements meritorious in engineers to improve and make in machinery during the last thirty years the most of that immediately under considera-gers over the Saratoga and Schenectady Railhave been so wonderful, as to unite the realition; but it is hoped they will not be so lost to the road during the week ending on Saturday, inties of truth with more than the wonders of children of their adoption as to pawn them upon cluding pleasure parties, between the two vil fiction, yet who will be so bold as to say that the public for the offspring of genuine science, lages, was 3550. The whole number from the or by any means, direct or indirect, encourage commencement of July up to that period, has we are at the very top of the hill of ad. a belief that a bad road is as good as a good been rising 10,000; and it may safely be calcu lated that the total at the close of the month vancement in mechanism? It was stated in will not fall short of 12,000. This will fully equal evidence before a parliamentary committee, I doubt much if any arguments could conat the conclusion of the late calamitous and vince you, Mr. Editor, that the clumsy presses any anticipations that have heretofore been ruinous war, to the astonishment of the com-in use forty years ago were equal to those of made relative to the travel on the road. The engine used thus far answers a most mittee, that during the war machinery equal the present day; or that a log road is equal to a to the power of sixteen millions of men had M'Adamized one; or a wooden clock to one of valuable purpose, and has been sufficiently brass; or that a surface of wood can receive as tested, we think, to show that it is at least been set to work in this country! and if a close a polish as one of iron. The want of equal to any locomotive ever used in this counmarket could be found for what machinery is means, and ignorance of a better, permitted try. It has on several occasions taken a train able to produce, that could soon be doubled. wooden railways to exist for a long time in of 8 carriages, containing from 160 to 180 pasNow, owing to the increase of the popula. England, but all the improvements in that sengers, with three baggage waggons, and pertion, particularly of the laboring classes, and branch of internal communication have been formed the trip to Schenectady in a little more the want of markets, machinery is in bonds, made since the introduction of iron. It is hoped than an hour and a half, frequently moving at a and the mechanic stands with one hand tied that in this, as in other branches of science, velocity of 20 miles an hour. The spectacle, behind him, while the starving and misguided you will avail yourselves of the facts and so far in the interior, is one of a truly imposing character, and will for a long time prove a noclusions of English engineers, not that you operative is ready with both hands to demo- should notice the weary ground which has been velty of much interest to our inhabitants, and lish his valuable inventions. What we want already ploughed to your hand, as if it were now is to open trade to India and China; necessary in acquiring a knowledge of ship-watering places.[Saratoga Sentinel.] then will the green withes, wherewith the building to commence with the canoes, and Sampson of machinery is bound, be broken rafts, and toys, of savages and children. asunder, and the steam engine and spinning jenny, to which England owes more than all her generals, admirals, and statesmen, will increase that debt, by securing the valuable natural productions of art and science.-[London paper.] THAMES TUNNEL.-Two estimates have been furnished by Mr. Brunel for the completion of the work: one to make it available for foot passengers, amounting to £146,000; and the other, which includes the sum required for the purchase of the ground for making the approaches and descents into the Tunnel on both. sides of the river for carriages, amounting to £248,000; and from the experience gained during the construction of the part now finished, here is just ground for concluding that either Sject is attainable for the sum specified. to the visitants who annually resort to these MANCHESTER AND SHEFFIELD RBILWAY.-At the adjourned meeting of proprietors of the Mr. Sullivan says very truly, that he prefers Manchester and Sheffield railway, held at Manthe more durable road, but the fact of giving chester on Wednesday; it was unanimously such statements as his last publicity, is cucou agreed to dissolve the company, and abandon raging, as I have seen in some instances a be- the undertaking, and to return the balance in lief in the public mind, which is necessarily de-the hands of the treasurer to the subscribers. pendent for its information on practical men. that timber may be made equally good and du- STEAMBOAT SAFETY APPARATUS.-Expe rable as iron; and, therefore, that the cheapness riments are in progress at the Franklin Instiof the latter ought to give it the preference. tute, Philadelphia, for testing the tenacity of There can be no doubt that the wood which iron. They were instituted by a resolution eventually yields the greatest per centage, is of Congress, and are made under the direc the best for the subscribers; and on a great public thoroughfare, with sufficient funds. I will not be called upon to prove that a well con this advantage. Very respectfully, yours, structed iron railway possesses, indisputably, S. D. tion of the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Johnson superintends them. The immedi ate object of the experiments was the increase of safety and certainty in the construction of steam boilers, the frequent burstIMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC RAIL-ing of which on the western waters had oc casioned so many disasters. The Pennsyl INGS FOR RAILROADS.-In this improvement the rails are to be made as they now are, and the vanian gives some of the results: the ma. chairs as they now are. The latter shall be chinery with which they were made is said fastened, as usual, into masses of stone or to be better than any ever tried in Europe, second expresses the weight in grains of one inch in length of each chain; the third column shows the number of links in the same length; and the last expresses the price ia francs, worth ten-pence each, of a Venetian braccio, or about two English feet of each chain. No. Weight of Number of Price of a Venetian Braccio, equal to two feet inch English. 60 francs. in grains. .44 .56 92 40 14 .77 88 26 and it is so contrived as to be used at any unit to which all value should be referred. 155. In the fine gold chains made at Venice, temperature of the metals, from 0 to 500 de- Thus, if we wish to compare the value of twen-we may trace in the various prices and sizes grees of Fahrenheit. ty yards of broad cloth in Saxony at the pre- the relative influence of the two causes above The sizes of these chains are It was found that, up to 450 degrees, the sent time, with that of the same kind and quan referred to. tity of cloth fabricated in England two centu-known by numbers, the smallest having becu tenacity of good iron increases in a direct ries ago, we must find the number of days' la- (in 1828,) No. 1, and the numbers 2, 3, 4, &c., ratio with the heat applied. This is contra- bor the cloth would have purchased in England progressively increasing in size. The followry to the popular opinion. One bar of Ten-at the time mentioned, and compare it with the ing Table shows the numbers and the prices of nessee iron, manufactured at the Cumberland number of days' labor twenty yards of the same those made at that time. The first column is Iron Works, below Nashville, was submit cloth will now purchase in Saxony. Agricul- the number by which the chain is known; the ted to both cold and hot processes, and tural labor appears to have been selected, beshowed, as the temperature varied, a tenaci- cause it exists in all countries, and employs a ty ranging from 59,000 to 64,000 pounds the large number of persons, and also because it requires a very small degree of previous insquare inch. The best Pennsylvania and struction. It seems, in fact, to be merely the Tennessee iron exhibited nearly the same exertion of a man's physical force; and its qualities. Connecticut iron is also remarka-value above that of a machine of equal power ble for tenacity; that of New-York had not arises from its portability, and from the facility been tried. of directing its efforts to arbitrary and continuThe Pennsylvanian adds oue remarkable ally fluctuating purposes. It may perhaps be general result, which we quote as a matter worthy of inquiry, whether a more constant It is this: "The average might not be deduced from combining of public congratulation. with this species of labor those trades which remost ordinary American Iron is equal to the quire but a moderate exertion of skill, and best British-and the best American is equal which exist in all civilized countries, such as and frequently superior to the best Swedish those of the blacksmith and carpenter, &c.* and Russian that can be imported." A re. In all such comparisons there is another eleport of all these experiments and results is ment, which, though not essentially necessary to be made to the Secretary of the Treasury, will yet add much to our means of judging. It and laid before Congress.-[Balt. Amer.] is an estimate of the quantity of that food on which the laborer usually subsists, which is Amongst these chains, that numbered 0 and Extract from a letter, dated "Avoylle Ferry, necessary for his daily support, compared with that numbered 24 are exactly the same price, on Red River, La., July 2d, 1833: the quantity which his daily wages will pur-although the quantity of gold in the latter is twerty-two times as much as in the former. "The Cholera has generally subsided on 152. The existence of a class of middle-men The d fliculty of making the smallest chain is those plantations in the parish of Rapide where between small producers and merchants is fre- so great, that the women who made it can tt made its first appearance, and the planters quently advantageous to both parties; and there not work above two hours at a time. returned with their force to their plantations are certain periods in the history of several advance from the smaller chain, the proporagain. The loss of slaves has been considera-manufactures which naturally call that class of tionate value of the work to the worth of the ble, as well as loss in their crops. Some plant-traders into existence. There are also other material becomes less and less, until, at the ers that lost but few hands have turned out one times when the advantage ceasing, the custom numbers 2 and 3, these two elements of cost hundred acres or upwards of their cotton crops, of employing them also terminates; the middle- balance each other; after which the difficulty in order to do more justice to the balance. men, especially when numerous, as they some of the work decreases, and the value of the mi"The fatal disease is spreading in different times are in retail trades, enhancing the price terial increases. directions. On Friday last there were several without equivalent good. Thus, in the recent 156. The quantity of labor applied to these deaths in the town of Natchitoches, where it examination by the House of Commons into chains is, however, incomparably less than that has attacked the white population. A few days the state of the Coal Trade, it appears that five- which is applied to some of the manufactures ago there were fifty to sixty cases on Cicily sixths of the London public is supplied by a of iron. In the case of the smallest Venetian Island, in the parish of Catahoula, and several class of middle-men who are called in the trade chain the value of the labor is not above thirty deaths, confined generally to slaves. It is also Brass-plate Coal-Merchants:" these consist times that of the gold. The pendulum spring raging with great mortality among the slaves principally of merchants' clerks, gentlemen's of a watch, which governs the vibrations of the in Point Coupee, on the Mississippi River. servants, and others, who have no wharves, balance, costs at the retail price two-pence, but merely give their orders to some true coal- and weighs fifteen one-hundredths of a grain ; merchant, who sends them in the coals from whilst the retail price of a pound of the best iron, his wharf. The brass-plate coal-merchant, of the raw material out of which fifty thousand course, receives a commission for his agency, such springs are made, is exactly the same which is just so much loss to the consumer. sum of two-pence. Capt. Shreevé, who has the management of the United States Snag Boats, passed down a few days ago with the four Steamboats from the Raft on Red River, where they have been employed this season in clearing out the raft. it was reported some days ago, that they had cleared the Raft upwards of seventy miles this season, and would be able to complete it next season; as the boats did not stop on their way down, on account of the cholera, we have no report from Capt. Shreeve, but anxious." Babbage on the Economy of Manufactures. [Continued from page 410.] The following table shows the dimensions and price, when silvered, of the largest plates of glass ever made by the British Plate-Glass Company, which are now at their warehouse in London: Height. Breadth. Prices when silvered. chase. 66 OF RAW MATERIALS. 24 60 As we 157. The comparative price of labor and of 153. Although the cost of any article may be raw material entering into the manufactures of reduced in its ultimate analysis to the quantity France, has been ascertained with so much of labor by which it was produced; yet it is care, in a memoir of M. A. M. Heron de Villeusual, in a certain state of the manufacture or fosse, "Recherches Statistiques, sur les Memost substances, to call them by the term raw taux de France," that we shall give an abstract material. Thus, iron, when reduced from the of his results reduced to English measures. ore and rendered malleable, is in a state of pre- The facts respecting the metals relate to the paration for a multitude of useful purposes, and year 1825. In France the quantity of raw material which is the raw material out of which most of our tools are made. In this stage of its manufac- can be purchased for £1 when manufactured into ture, but a moderate quantity of labor has been silk goods, is worth £237-broad cloth and woolexpended on the substance; and it becomes an lens, 2 15-hemp and cables, 3 94-linen, coninteresting subject to trace the various propor-prising thread laces, 5 00-cotton goods, 2 44. tions in which raw material, in this sense of 154. Gold-leaf consists of a portion of the metal beaten out to so great a degree of thinness, as to allow a greenish-blue light to be transmitted through its pores. About 400 square inches of this are sold, in the form of a small The largest glass in the Paris list, when silvered, and its book containing 25 leaves of gold, for 1s. 6d. dimensions and price reduced to English measure, is, 629 12 0 246 13 In this case, the raw material, or gold, is worth 151. If, therefore, we wish to compare the value of any article at different periods of time, it is clear that neither any one substance, nor even the combination of all manufactured goods, can furnish us with an invariable unit by which to form our scale of estimation. Mr. Malthus *Much information for such a. inquiry is to be found. for the has proposed for this purpose to consider amittee of the House of Commons on Manufacturers' Employ particular period to which it refers, in the Report of the Comday's labor of an agricultural laborer as thellment, 24 July, 1830. The price of pig lead was £1 1 per cwt.; and lead of the value of £1 sterling, became worth, when manufactured into sheets or pipes of moderate dimensions, £1 25-white lead, 60-ordinary printing characters, 4 90-the smallest type, 28 30. The price of copper was £5 2 per cwt. Copper worth £1 became, when manufactured into copper sheeting, £1 26-household utensils, 477-common brass pins tinned, 2 34-rolled into plates covered with silver, 3 56-woven into metallic cloth, each square inch of which contains 10,000 meshes, 52 23. The price of tin was £4 12 per cwt. Tin worth £1, when manufactured into leaves for silvering glass, became £1 73-Household utensils, 1 85. A still finer chain is now manufactured (1832-) ↑ Memoires de l'Institut. 1826. |