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In the Scientific American of October 8 there was given a large engraving of No, 1 of the new type of locomotive engine designed by Mr, Eugene Fontaine, with a brief account of its peculiarities, In the current issue of the Scientific AmeRican Supplement will be found a corresponding illustration of the Fontaine locomotive, No, 3, recently completed, with critical estimates of the value of the improvements introduced by the inventor, There is given also a sufficiently full statement of the behavior of these engincs to enable the rcader to form an idea of the reasonableness of the high expectation which the friends of thenew plan of locomotive construction entertain with regard to the advantages it involves. The Supplement paper referred to, it is proper to say here, is by Mr. John Ortton, Mechanical Superintendent of the Canada Southem Railway, under whose direction engine No. 1 has been running for several months. The high professional standing of Mr. Ortton gives weight to the judgment which he expressesa judgment based on a critical stl1df of the teory 0 the mv.entor as we11 as teh practlCa.I behavior of the engine. From the evidence thus furnished it seems to be abundantly established that the Fontaine locomotive marks a long stride forward in the direction of speed and economy in railway service. If it is not, as its friends confidently believe, the most important improvement made for many years in the construction of locomotivc engines, it is still one that cannot fail to give a notable impetus to the advancement of railway engineering and to the social and commercial changes incident to increased facilities for rapid transit. The distinctive mechanical features of the new engine have been sufficiently dwelt upon in the articles already mentioned. tI' IS enough in this p1ace to say that, by a bold and ingenious change in the manner of applying the power through auxiliary drivers,a large increase of speed is obtained with a given size of driving wheel without increasing the number of piston strokes or the amount of fuel consumcd. Or, thc speed of the train being, constant, the improved method of applying the power and the more complete development of the working force of the steam enable the engine to haul a much heavier load than is possible with the engines in common use. Theoretically the advantage gained is nearly eighty per cent in speed or traction above the best performance of engines of the same size, built in the prevailing stylea practical gain of 30 per cent is deemed well within the bounds of demonstration. The dimensions of engine No. 2, designed for freight service but not yet huilt, arc givenin the Supplement. The new engine (No. 3) has not yet been tested for speed, No. 1 has developed a speed approaching seventy miles an honr over long distances. In May last it drew a light special train from AmherRtburg to St. Thomas, on the Canada Southern Road, a distance of one hundred and elcven mIles, ,. ninety-eight minutes. The run from Amherstburg to Buffalo, two un'hdddh're an thirty-five m1les, was mad'e 1n two Imndddre an thirty-five mmutes, 'Inc.Iud'mg stops for coal and water, The expectation is that No, 3 W1'II make ninety ml.]es an hour, in which case it will b'thde placed on the road hetween Jersey City and Philadelphia. The influence upon commercial and social life certain to flow from an improvement like thiswhich greatly cheapens the cost of power for hauling freight and passengersit is impossible to estimate. Social and commercial activity incrcases not in simple but in compound ratio with each step in the mastery of time and space, and in every instance hitherto the results of such improvements have surpassed expectation. For ages men have envied the ability of birds to cleave the air at a speed approaching a hundred miles an hour, and it has been thought that nothing short of a flying machine would ever enable men to achieve a transit so rapid, It seems incredible that the problem should be solved without leaving the ground, yet not so mcrechble, nor half as 1mpro bau'-Ie, as a speed of fifty ml'1Ies an lOur seemed t'0 engIneers fifty years ago. There are few cxisting railways, it is true, on which it would be possible or prudent to drive a train at anything I like the speed expected of the Fontaine locomotives, owing j to the instability of the road-beds and the sharpness of the i curves. But the improvement of established roads is being rapidly carried out, wherever the servicc requires it, and we may be sure that any degree of excellence which the future may demand will be promptly supplied. But aside from any consideration of increased speed, the new Iocomot'1ve ('fI expeflcnce ."1Sla11 confirm the promlse 'lleId out by the performance of the engines now on trial), will materially increase the economy of railway service. There are all'eady something like a hundred thousand miles of railroad in this country, employing not far from twenty thd'ousan engmes. All our great locomotIve. works are [ burdened with orders, some having contracts which will req.u'll.e two or t1lree years of constant work to. fill. ObVIously an improvement which will add thirty per cent. to the efficiency of the locomotive, the rllnmng expense beiag the j s"mde, hthas e capac1ty '0f add'mg mr'11'lO'ns to tehI vaue and vastly to the capacity of our railway systems. No Award in the Cattle Car Competition. At the meeting of the American Hnmane Association in Boston, October 19, President Brown announced that there i was no award by the judges of the 5,000 prize offered last year for an improved cattle car, Seven hnndred designs and models had been SUbmitted to the committee, but no one of tbem so complied with the conditions as to win the prize, Evidently the owners of good cattle car patents hold them at a higher figure that 5,000.
