WIRE TRAMWAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 929, 18 September 1869, Page 9

WIRE TRAMWAYS.

To the Editor of the Otago Whwess.

i Sir— l enclose an artiole, cut from, a Home • paper, on Wire Tramways, which I think may prove useful to the colony, and this por« | tion of it in particular, if reproduced in your columns. If such a tramway is insufficient . for the traffic between Dunedin and Port) ! Chalmers, it might probably be advan* [ tageously used in the transit of goods in up* country districts. ' In any event, the principle is novel, and ' may be worth bringing before the puolio.— I am, &0., W. Wilebid Wilson. 13th Sept. " A railway without cuttings, embank* meats, tunnels, viaducts, or bridges, ao mat* ter how hilly the country to be traversed "—" — such is the definition given by Herapath's Journal of an invention now in use in Leicesl tershire, and a working model of which may i be seen in Gresham street, E.C. The Wire [ Tramway providts a simple and cheap substi- . tute for a line of rails, and is of great service- . where, from the scarcity or intermittent t character of the traffio, or the engineer- , ing difficulties of the ground 'to be . got over, it is either not expedient) ) o" impossible to go through the expensive , process of forming a local railway. For the , wire spans over and evades obstacles in place . of burrowing under or levelling them, and will perform its task as easily along a rugged tract of country as on the smoothest road. The experiment being now prosecuted with complete success between some Leicester* shire stone quarries and a railway station three miles distant, consists of an endless wire rope, supported on a series of pulleys, carried by substantial posts, which are ordinarily about 150 feet apart,, bub the interval between which may be greatly extended, as is shown in one case where the span from poot to pußt is 600 feet. One ot the ends of this rope nesses round a Fowler's clip-drum, worked oy a portable, steam engine, and this drives the rope at tho speed of six miles an hour. Boxea are hung on the ropo at tho loading end sear the quarries by a pendant, which is ingeniously arranged to preserve a perfect equilibrium, and at the same time to pass withont hindrance ovor the supports. Each of these boxes carries ono hundredweight of stono, and the delivery is at the rate of 200 boxes, or 10 tons, per hour, for the three-mile distance. Already wire tramways on the Leicestershire model are m course of erection in France, Italy, and Spain. Negotiations are on foot, too, between the Turkish Govern' raont and the engineers here, arid ie is a©«t improbable that this generation may seegoods carried by wire as commonly as messages. The tramway is, indeed, not unliko an exceedingly stout electric telegraph ; and there is something almost droll in the Bight of a regiment of well laden tracks or boxea passiug gravely along it at stated intervals, And at a regular pace, much as if they were at aorial dr\\\. Ihe most important point u» Mr Hodgson's invention is his method! of passing the points of support, whioh. consists, in to ourving tho frame of the tvapk or box as to make the contra of gravity come under the rope. So admirably is this managed that some of our leading engineers have been discussing quite recently the possibility of constructing a, otiout wire tramwAy between Dovor »nci Calais, whioh should bo supported (rcyn % liuo of pillars sunk in midocoau, and Along whioh passengers could bo convoyed. Tho cost would bo comparatively «null« and s.isponsory trains could, it* is Argued, be despatched Aorosß the Chjaa&ol without difficulty or danger. It should bo stated that whero hoary load's* must necessarily bo carried, a pair o| stationary supporting ropos, with An endless r unit ing ropo for tho motive power, Are cuvployed, and, that by thoao means as many am a thousand, tons por day can bo easily convoyed. Tho cost of orooting theao tyAo&ways. ;in Engla-d, And of tuppljing n\otivo powen Aud rolling stock, is from I&JO a milo for carrying 60 tons a d»y, i& boxes holding h*M a hundredweight oanh, to LI 500 A mile for ono of tho double ropo hnct, to carry 1 000- ton* a dAy, in boxoi or trucks holding aix hnndrodwoight «Aoh. For all diitncts wher* thoro in traffic but whoro it would not pajr to construct a railway, tho wiro tramway is> particularly upplioablo, And, as, will bo> readily understood, whororor there is stAnd-ing-room for poitt, them a lin* can. be oreotod. A reoent AppiMwtioa from tradoro in ooppor for po^Uog 000 up- fot them, whioh •hould run tUrou^b, aq AfrioAu forest, And ov«r aa Ai^rioan jungly down tothoooMt, illaatrAtea the varied oiroutnitAnooi under, , whioh tho now «y«toin of trantporfc may bi, Attpliod.

' JctTiFiAiiLK Aihuuj.t.— -Beating a carpet, although a dust li iure to bo rn»c<f about itv