A ROAD STEAMER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1434, 22 June 1868, Page 5

A ROAD STEAMER.

One object of interest has been occasionally travelling on the roads between Leith and Edinburgh for a few weeks past, which I conjecture will continue to be an object of histor»»l interest for the time I have mentioned. It is what is called a road steamer, a machine like a small railway engine set upon three wheels, one in front and two behind the middle—a machine weighing fire tons, capable of drawing sixty tons at a slow pace on good road', of going over the roughest road and climbing the steepest, and travelling over the ploughed land or the like with the most perfect ease. It was the invention of Mr. H, N. Thompson, C. E., of Edinburgh, inventor of a system of floating docks ; of the steam winch, a curious and most effective rotatory engine which was exhibited at the recent Paris Exhibition and attracted much attention there, and of various other pieces of ingenious mechanism. The peculiarity of the new road steamer is that its three wheels are covered with large tires or hoops of India rubber, about five inches thick and two feet broad, being the largest castings of India rubber ever made, and costing each about £'50 or £60. The India rubber tires take hold of the ground like an elephant's foot. They spread over hollows, and stone and other obstructions sink into their elastic embrace. In short, they solve the problem of road steamers completely, as also of steamers to go over soft, rough ground, and it is impossible to anticipate all the uses the new tires may be put to in the pursuits of agriculture, or it ma3 r be in the operations of war. It has been suggested that these India rubber tires will soon wear, but those which have been used as experiments hithsrto have scarcely sustained a scratch, although they have gone over rough metalled roads at various rates of speed, often much faster than the legal rate of four miles an hour. The only serious lesion as yet was made in one of them when crossing a bier ditch over a bridge of a few trees thrown carelessly together. This new road steamer is intended to draw an omnibus in the Island of Java, where its inventor for several years resided, and it is now shipped, or about to be shipped for its destination. I believe, however, it will soon have one or more successors.— Correspondent London Telegraph.