Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 928, 11 September 1869, Page 17

IMPROVED TRACTION ENGINE.

T, -• {Aberdeen Herald, May- 15th. ). ' •b'onsicterable interest: was r created : £n A town on Saturday 'ana>u<tteeding ; aays. by 1 1 tne Wppy'ftWnce'M ;wl&t has 1 M'hdrto been; aoi&ew^'of "a' rarity { itt this 'dstric£— an' .improved, traction engine; This machine has been taken on; trig., by \Mf ; , *F. Whyte, grain 1 merchant; for the putpoie; ofcbnVeying grain and flour between the towhani Kettock's MiKi, distance of about thr^e mileß. t ( Hitherto "the" work" has been accomplished in the usual' wayrby'oart* aiid'hdra'es, •arid M* Whyte ' deserves credit, 1 for Mis' enterprise in starting wha^'must of necessity, more orlestf, entail 'some risk. The engine made l its first appearance on' Saturday, having' arrived, along with its' maker, Mr &. W. Dhbmso'n 'of Edinburgh, on the previous day. On Saturday morning the engine started from the foot of Market atrdet,' being followed by a great crowd, arid arrived in safety at Kettock's Mills, doing the journey slowly/ but, on the/ whole, as well as Could have been expected, cbnaidering that itVas enf tirely newt, and had not got rightly into working order. Having arrived at the Mills, a couple of waggons containing 15 tons of flour were attached to it. It proceeded easily at a moderate pace, till the Rlacknook Brae, at the north end of the Bridge of Bals>ownie, was reached. Here the gradient is 1 in 7k, and it proved too ateep for the power of the engine, Which had to uncouple one of the waggons, and leave it, while it took the o^her one to the top of, the hill- Tni9 it did easily, and then returned and brought up the one it left behind, after which it proceeded with both waggons withoutanydlffieultytoAberdeen. In coming down the Blacknook Brae, the handiness of the locotnotive was shewn ly its being brought to a sudden stand still in the middle of the descent. On Tuesday, the " Don," for that ia thename which the engine appropriately bears, took out ten tona of grain to the mills and returned to town with eleven, having never once stopped on the road. On Wednesday and successive days the engine has fully proved itself fitted for work. Its wheels of vulcanised india-rubber are clad with Bteel shields placed like bars at a short distance from each other, so that the rubber does not come into active contact with the road. In wet weather these steel shields will be very ÜBeful, when it is not deemed advisable to allow the rubber to touch the ground. There are many points of interent about the Don, and these were fully appreciated by the number of engineers and scientific men who, on Wednesday, assembled at Mealmarket Lane to witness ita departure. The admirable working of the india-rubber on the wheels was highly appreciated, and the eaae and facility .with which the steamer could turn in her own length on the road called forth approval. The Don, the price of which is L6OO, Is nominally of six-horee power, but can be worked up to a considerably higher point It stands very low— a great consideration, when we think of the lumbering machines to which we have hitherto been accustomed ; and is warranted on a level road to pull 16 tons, at the rate of two and a-half to six miles an hour. Altogether it will, doubtless, effect a very great saving.