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There is now being tested upon the Erie Railroad a locomotive of uncommon appearance, built by the Rogers Locomotive Works after designs by the inventor, Dr. Christian Raub, of this city. The four driving wheels upon each side are united by a rod, connected at the center to a wrist pin, placed upon a disk crank on the end of a shaft journaled between the middle wheels. The cylinders are placed vertically in line above the ends of this shaft. The two return flue tubular boilers are placed end to end, with the fire boxes adjoining each other. Upon each side of each boiler is a fire door, so that each furnace may be fed from either side. The boilers are united by a tube to equalize the steam pressure, and one safety valve answers for both. There are 132 two- inch flues, 66 inches long, in each boiler. The fire box of each boiler is 56 inches long by 33 1/2 inchos wide, and from the grate bars to the crown sheet is 42 inches. The grate surface is 13 square feet, the flue surface 370 square feet, and the total heating surface 420 square feet. There are six water tanks, three at each end of the locomotive, having a combined capacity of 2,000 gallons. At each end are also two coal boxes, each holding three-quarters of a ton. The cylinders are 16 inches in diameter by 24 inches stroke. The drivers are 62 inches in diameter. The extreme length of the engine is 40 feet, of the wheel base 19 feet 5 inches, and the height from rail to top of cab is 13 feet. The engine is so proportioned and arranged that each half of the total structure, whether divided longitudinally or laterally, is an exact counterpart of the other half, both as regards weight and measure. The consequence is that the center of gravity is at the intersection of the longitudinal and transverse center planes of the entire locomotive. The motive power is placed in the central transverse vertical plane of the engine. The boiler flues terminate in a smoke chamber at the ends of the locomotive, but, instead of allowing the heat and gases to escape through smokestacks at the ends as in the ordinary locomotive, they are conducted through return flues of a larger size to a smoke chamber, from which leads a stack standing in the center of the locomotive. The engine shown in the engraving was designed for heavy work, and as it has no dead weight, its entire power can be utilized. preliminary arrangements or complicated apparatus should be required in using, setting up, loading, transporting, or lighting. 4. Should not by its use and result be much more expensive than the former blasting methods. Applications should be sent before the end of 1886 to the K. K. Berghauptmannschaft at Vienna.
