450 ,_ A N o. 44-as it interfered with the favorite project of the day, the enlargement of the Erie Canal. Yetvthese gentlemen did not dispute the liberal scale on which the esti- mates were based; and it is, therefore, to be presumed, that they are as correct, as their estimate (for the enlargement) made, as they all confess in a hasty ma;-mer——in the limited time of only three months’ field work for 363 miles of canal! !-—to cost 12 millions, without any allowance for damages to the cities and villages they pass through. It is true, the Engineers, in the employ of the Canal Board, abuse in their report, the name of the Ship Canal——the use of steam-—tl1e szlze, the difliculty of making bridges over it. Yet, in less than a year, two of the three Engineers, Messrs. Jervis and Mills, enter a species of protest, to the Canal board, as to the propriety of the Board adopting a less size than 8 feet by 80 feet, for the projected enlargement, to answer the increasing trade of the west. See this singular doc., No. 99, of the last winter, page 281. Of the fairness of “ M’s que- ries,’3 or his ignorance, I leave the public to judge. Can he be one of these Engineers? There has been much published on the subject of ship or large canals,-—a name with Engineers in contra-distinction-to From the London Repertory of Patent Inventions. SPECIFICATION OF THE PATENT GRANTED T0 HENRY BOOTH, OF LIVERPOOL, FOR CER- TAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE EN- GINES AND RAILVVAY CARRIAGES. SEALED JANUARY 93, 1836. iM_y improvement applicable to} railway carriages I declare to beza new mode of connecting the carriages together, by which AMERICAN RAILROAD JOURNAL, AND is effected an increased steadiness and smoothness of motion at high velocities, and which consists in an improved connect- ing apparatus, by the action of which the buffers of the separate carriages of a train held in contact with each other, so as to prevent that independent lateral and serpen- tine motion, which railway carria es moving at high velocitiesassume when t ey are at- tached together in the usual way by a sim- ple draw chain. boat, or small canals-—so that “M” can _not be ignorant, that the friends of the Ship Canal, from the Hudson to Lake Erie, have long contended, and have challenged contra- diction, that a separate, better and larger Canal, via Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls, can be constructed in less than half the time, and certainly for /zaljf l/ac money, than theproposed enlargement of the Erie Oa- nal, in 12 years l! The reason is obvious, to the most common mind. The distance to enlarge, in winter and summer, with inter- ference to trade, is 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo. The total extent of artificial Ship Canal required for the same distance, via Lakes Oneida and Ontario, is only 150 miles ; and this, too, without using the Mohawk River, as some propose-making a difference of 213 miles of canal. “By adopting this course,” to use the language of an able writer, in a pamphlet, addressed tothe last Legislature, with the signature of Oswego, [reported to be from Mr. E. F. Johnson, principal and resident Engineer on the Eric R. R.,] on the sub- ject of the enlargement, he says, “ we shall obtain the benefit of a much larger navi- gation—in about two thirds less time, at an expense, not exceeding one half of what it must cost, to make the proposed enlarge- ment, from Albany to Bufifalo. The ob- struction to the navigation so much dread- ed, will be avoided, as the masonry will be built, and embankments formed, under the most favorable circumstances, and when done, the State instead of having but one canal at a. cost of nearly 2'7 millions of- dollars, will have two canals, the combined cost of which will not vary much from twenty (20) millions.” at at at at at at Any fair queries made by M, with a de- sire.og_f,knoWledge,,will be promptly ans- wered by "Mr. Johnson, or the friends of ‘ a Jllip Canal, ‘from the Hudson to Lake Erie. J. E. B. Description? of the Draw ing.-—Fig. 1, shows the mode in which railway carriages have usually been attached to each other by a simple chain, the buffers of one carriage not coming in contact with those of anoth- er, buteach carriage being allowed, when moving onwards, a lateral oscillating mo- tion. Figs. 2 and 3, show the improved mode of connection for which I claim my patent. A, is the connecting chain attached to the draw bar of each carriage, and consists 01 a double working screw (working within two long links or shackles,) the sockets of which are spirally threaded to receive the screw bolts which are fastened together by a pin and cotter-—so that by turning the arm or lever, z, of the said screws, the connect- ing apparatus is lengthened or shortened at pleasure, to the extent of the long links or shackles above alluded to, in which they work. This screw chain being placed on the books, or turned up ends ofthe carriage draw bars (1)), the buffers (B) of each ad- joining carriage being first brought close or nearly close together, the clever (z) is turn- ed round a few times till the draw bars (1)) are drawn an inch or two beyond their shoulders, on the face of the carriage frame (0), stretching the draw springs (to which the draw bars are attached), to the extent of afourth or fifth part of their whole elasti- city; and by that degree of force attaching the bulfers of the adjoining carriages to; gether, and giving by this means, to a train of carriages, a combined steadiness and smoothness of motion at rapid speeds, which they have not, when the buffers of eiach carriageare separate from those of the tidjoining carriage. W, is a weight to keep the lever in a vertical position and prevent the unscrewing of the chain when in ac- tion. »; Now I do not claim as new the separate parts before described of the bulfers, screw chain, or draw-bars, attached to a draw spring, but I claim the combination and joint action of those parts as described, and the consequent close, but elastic attach- ZZIZIZZZJZSEIZIZZI . constitutes my im _ provement applicable to railway carr1ages.g "“"' And my improvement applicable to the locomotive engines which draw the railway carriages,I declare to be a new mode of checking the speed of the engine, or stop- ping it altogether, which is effected by in- troducing a throttle valve, slide, or damper, into the exhausting -steam pipe of the en- gine, commonly called the blast pipe, which is usually placed in the chimney, in front of the engine ; and which throttle valve may be most conveniently introduced Where, the two exhausting pipes are united intoione, below the place where the pipe is contracted in area for the purpose of producing a blast to the furnace. From the throttle valve must proceed a rod or long handle extend- ing through the chimney to the back part of the boiler, so as to lie within convenient reach of the engine-man, who by moving the said handle, can close the slide or throttle valve, either partially or altogether as may be required. And the throttle valve need not be altogether steam tight, but should be made to work freely in its place. The en- gine-man when he wishes to stop or slack- en the speed of hisengine, closes or con. tracts his throttle valve without shutting off the steam in its passage from the boiler to the engine. The pistons, by that means, are speedily, but not suddenly or violently checked, and the driving wheels of the en- gine no longer revolving, or revolving very slowly, the engine is soon brought to a. stand. Now I dopnot claim as new, any particular kind of ‘throttle valve, which may be left to the judgment of the engineer, pro- vided it be so constructed that when open the steam way be not contracted, but may valve or damper were introduced. ‘T claim the introduction ofa throttle valve, 01' damper, into the exhausting /s_team.p1pe Of 8- locomotive engine, by Igloaing 01‘ 00f1tl‘3°l- ing which the ye/ngine-man can check or stop his engine at pleasure. In witness Enrolled March 21, 1836. l. l ment of the carriages to each other, which J allow the steam to escape . freely as if no”