House of Commons, Great Britain

“ During the course of your experience have you met with any accident, such as the breaking of your machinery?—None whatever of any denomination; not one bolt, not one screw has ever given way, during a period of twelve months, and under circumstances which would have utterly destroyed any other Carriage, and very much to the surprise of engineers, who are sadly uninformed on all points relative to Steam Coaches, and have never advanced their success. ”

“ Is not the momentum gained by greater velocity an accumulation of power?—I think the advantage gained by certain rapidity of action, arises from the inequalities of the road being overbalanced by the momentum of the Carriage; when the Carriage travels slowly, every inequality, every stone or slight obstacle partly destroys the momentum, but at a certain speed it overcomes them; there is no actual gain of power by momentum ”

“ Would your Carriage displace along the road four horses on each stage?—Two ten-horse Engines would displace the whole number of horses along the stage.
Have you made experiments which enable you to answer these questions?—I was not at all prepared; my principal object bas been to ascertain what power I have to do a certain work; I have paid very little attention to horse power.
Do you think that your Carriage is equivalent to a four-horse Carriage on the road, in the number of persons it would draw?—It is more than equivalent to it, from the circumstance of its being able to do more work. ”

“ From the experiments you have before stated, what should you recommend should be the breadth of the tire of the wheel of a Carriage with four wheels weighing four tons?—I consider that a Carriage of any description required to carry a great weight, five or eight tons, ought to have a wheel of four inches and a half in breadth, constructed agreeably to the Clause in the Metropolis Act; and I consider that a Carriage with such a wheel, though carrying an excessive weight, would do very little injury to the road. ”

“ From your observations of the effects produced by heavy Carriages drawn by horses, in ascending and descending hills, what would be the effect, under similar circumstances, of a Steam Carriage of a weight equal to the weight of the Coach and horses?—I am of opinion that the effect or injury to a road would be less by the Steam Carriage; for when hills exceed a certain rate of inclination, gravity overcomes the friction of the surface, and the Carriages, in descending, press upon the horses, unless a drag be applied to one of the wheels. ”

“ Have you any plan to submit for fixing the Tolls on Steam Carriages?—The plan I should propose would be, if I may be allowed the term, that an iron horse of the same weight as one of flesh and bones should pay the same toll; and taking one horse to weigh 10 cwt., that for every 10 cwt, the Steam Carriage weighs, it should pay the same toll as one horse pays; although I do not admit that the same weight carried on four wheels will do as much mischief as on four, hoofs. ”

“ What is the greatest weight that any Steam Engine you have ever built is capable of carrying ten miles an hour?—About three tons, in addition to its own weight. The majority of the London engineers treated our opinions, founded on the laws of nature and experiment, with contempt and ridicule, and were amazed at witnessing the vigour of our Engines, and the velocity with which we left the factory in Cable-street. ”

“ Reducing the cost of carriage is precisely the same thing in its effects as reducing the immediate cost of production, consequently the conveyance of light goods by Steam power, must cheapen all such goods to the consumers. This will necessarily enable them to consume a greater quantity of such goods, and the consumption of the greater quantity will enlarge the demand for labour, call a larger manufacturing population into existence, and thereby re-act on agriculture by increasing the demand for food. ”

“ What advantage in point of expence do you anticipate to the public from the use of steam in propelling Carriages over that by horses?—I have no doubt that when they arrive at tolerably practical state of perfection, passengers will be carried the same distance which they are carried now by horses at the same velocity for one half of the expence, it may be even at less than that in future. ”

“ May you take the wear of horses' shoes, in proportion to that of the tire of the wheels, as a fair test of the proportionate wear of the road by each?—No, by no means, because the pressure which the wheels exert, and which wears away the tire, is, under certain conditions, very beneficial to the road; whereas the pressure occasioned by the horses' feet is in all cases pernicious. ”

“ Many circumstances, however, must retard the general introduction of Steam as a substitute for Horse Power on roads. One very formidable obstacle will arise from the prejudices which always beset a new invention, especially one which will at first appear detrimental to the interests of so many individuals. This difficulty can only be surmounted by a long course of successful, though probably unprofitable, experiment. The great expence of the Engines must retard the progress of such experiments. ”

“ If it is possible to remove those horses by an elementary power, which I firmly believe is practicable, the national advantage must be in proportion to the number of horses so removed; for if it is shown that one carriage horse can be removed from the road by the present state of Steam Carriages. I see no reason why every horse so employed should not be so removed. It has been decided that the consumption of a horse is equal to that necessary for eight individuals, so for every horse that is removed and is supplied by elementary power, we make way for the maintenance of eight individuals. ”

“ Are there any states in which a road is placed in which no injury is done by a Carriage passing over it, take the case of a hard frost for instance?—No perceptible injury is done in that case. If the road is so hard that the wheel makes no mark upon it.—But where the road is at all soft, and when the wheel sinks into that road it must tend to destroy the road, if it be merely in mud on the surface of the road, it is making a cistern to hold a puddle of water. ”

“ So that even upon the extreme and most improbable supposition, that Steam Carriages should never be employed in conveying agricultural produce to market at a cheaper rate, still the benefit to the country would be very great, inasmuch as we should have a vastly increased industrious population, and England would become much more extensively, than she is at present, the great workshop of the world. ”

“ Supposing the width of the wheel to be the same on a Carriage and Steam Engine, and the weight of the Carriage the same, do you consider that a wheel perfectly cylindrical, with a horizontal axle, preferable to a wheel dished like that of a common stage coach, with a common axle?—You cannot have a dished wheel to a great width, without its dragging as I have described, unless you alter the system. ”