294 L'ditorial.

in Eugtand, upo~ the li,ie of the South Eastern Railroad Company,. ~a the presem~e or' the officials of the company and a few invited ex- perts. The distances passed over, au(l the time required in stopping in connection with the ~et, ion of the brooke, were ca.ret~lly noted. When the tria,1 comm(meed the speed w~s 40 miles per hour. In clghteen seconds a.ft.er the application o~" the brake the train was brought to a, st:,ud st.ill, i,t a, distance o~' 1~5 yards, with a failing gradient or" 1 iu 142. O~t the second trial, with a speed of 80 miles per hour, the train w,~s stopped in 15 seconds after the application o f die brake, in a distance of 100 y~rrds, with a 5riling gradient of 1 in 120. Several ¢~!her experi,ne,~ts were mz~de, and the results are stated to have been equ~dfy successful ; aml the opinion is expressed that the results o[" the t:,~mpany's expet'iments wilt have the effect of bringing the brake i,~to as cxte,~ive an e,nploymeut in England as it haa attained w}th u~.

& New Car Truok . - -The following report upon the examination of this deviee, invented~ by Mr. William Petit ~ will require no eom~ ment. The accompa- nying cut shows the~ truck in vertical an4 side section.

"Tile Committee on Science and the Arts constituted by the Franklin Institute of ~ the State of Pennsyl~ vania for the promo- tion of the )iechanic~ Arts, to whom wasL referred ibr examina- tion William Peti t 's Truck, report,

" That they have examined the truck as i t has been in use undar= tbur passenger express engines running upon the P. W. & B. lt. R .~ on which a member of the Committee has travelled several hundre4 miles.

" The peculiarity of this truck consists in having the centre pin~

Items and Novelties. ~ 5

upon which it turns, placed behind the centre of the truck. As ~ow constructed, tile centre pin is 24 inches nearer the lin~ bf t5~i6 i'ea~. axle than that of the front ; a sliding bolster, carrying ttxe ~re~ght 0f the boiler, being placed upon the centre of the truck, e~09e~ing th:$ place usually occupied by the pin. The result of this arrai~ge~ieat i$ that the amount of force requisite to turn the truck on a c'tirve is Iea~S in proportion as the leverage of the leading wheels is iiadretcsed lJe.- yond that which they have when the pin is in the centre of the trnck. [n passing curves, the centre of the boiler is carried nearer to th~ outer rail, so that the shock of entering or lea,~ing the curve ia dimin- ished. Comparisons made during the pas~ year between engines pr6- vided with this truck and those without it, show that with it th~ sid~ shock ineiden~ to entering or leaving a eur;.,e is so much ffifiainisticd that with curves of long radius the shock is scarcely perceptible,

"When used as a following instead of a leading truck, as in rannia~ an engine backwards, this truck is drawn into the curve by a puU upon the centre pin, rather titan by pressure upon the fianehes of the wheet~, so that it can be used for passenger ears if it he so placed that each centre pin is nearest that end of the truck Which is towards the cen- tre of the ear.

" The softening of the side blow resulting from tlie Use of this trttok diminishes the wear and tear of rolling stock and roadway¢ and at th~ same time increases the safety of railway travel.

" CaARLr~s ,M, Crtrssos, M. D., EDWARD L0tqGSTIt ET/rl ~

B. H. BJiR~OL." An I n t e r e s t i n g R a i l w a y Embankment.~l~rof. J.P. Le~.

ley, has recently published an interesting account of a natural dam or embankment, which is made use of by the :~,iidland Railroad. ~ThlS embankment crosses the bottom of the Walkill valley, which runs in a north and south direction for many miles,

The valley contains outcrops of white and blue limestone, ,~'hi¢t have a steep dip. The wes¢ side of the vaIley is formed bY a rar~g~ of hills of crystalline limestone, in which the celebrated Frankliait~ iron and zinc ores, for which New Jersey is so well known, ,aecur All the outcropping rocks of the valley and hills are rounded art polishod, grooved a,,d scratched by as they are in tho gravel and erratm bloeks by then" pre~enc~ ~ t c a t e , . ~ng and polishing of the rocks, the former i~t'eghnce of' a, gl~&ctgr mo ng to the Southward.