Traction engine in Wateringbury (1858)

Extract from Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper of 1st August 1858

BRAY's TRACTION ENGINE-

On Friday week, we were present at a trial of the above engine, which resulted in a most satisfactory manner. The engine, which is fitted with Barran's cup surface boilers, has been employed-

1st, In drawing waggons over the hill at Folkestone, in Kent, having an incline of 1 in 10, the load being 10 tons.

2nd, In ploughing in the neighbourhood of Folkestone, drawing three ploughs in a frame, and with that apparatus ploughing in a very perfect manner, at the rate of six acres in an ordinary day's work.

3rd, It was employed ploughing at Wateringbury, in Kent, drawing a Kentish turnwrist plough, followed by a subsoil plough, ploughing to the depth of twenty-four inches in land lately coppice wood, in the same operation tearing up the roots (thicker than a man's arm) which, on felling the wood, had been left in the ground. The proprietors of this land afterwards employed the engine in drawing stones off portions of their estate in wagons, over a hilly district to some distance, taking at each operation a number of wagons with a total load of twenty-three tons.

4th, It went to Woolwich arsenal for trial. In the first trial it took one 68-pounder cannon, slung under its carriage, with its apparatus, over the hilly roads in the neighbourhood, with an incline of I in 10, for a distance of about four miles. In the second, it took three such guns, similarly slung, of a total weight of 19 tons 18 cwt., over similar ground and for the same distance; this it did in about an hour and a half, and on its return to the arsenal, the consumption of fuel being taken, it was ascertained by the engineer officers who superintended, that the expense of the fuel on that journey was less than one shilling; the rate of travelling was about two miles and a half per hour. The engineer officers reported that it would have required at least sixteen horses to each cannon to have drawn them over the same line of road; and that even that number would not have done the work so well as it was done by the engine, which is perfectly under command, turns at right angles (indeed, has turned in the railway yard at New-cross round a circle the diameter of which was the length of the engine) and can be instantly stopped and started again, whether on the rise or the decline of the hill, and that too with such loads behind as we have described. The third trial at the arsenal was to test its power on boggy ground; for this purpose it was taken from the arsenal into the Woolwich marshes drawing behind it a 68-pounder, slung as before; this it drew over road which appeared to have been formed of the mud from the banks of the Thames covered with saw-dust and chips, and in which the wheels of the engine sank seventeen inches, whilst those of the cannon, although nearly twice the breadth of those of the engine, were dragged along for nine yards, without making a single revolution; yet the engine overcome all these impediments, and brought the cannon safe back. On the day on which we witnessed its performance it was employed by Messrs. Barren in drawing three trucks laden with machinery, from New-cross to Charlton-next-Woolwich, the whole weight of the load upon this occasion being upwards of twenty-seven tons. The whole of the work mentioned has been done in the most satisfactory manner, without the slightest breakage or accident of any kind; nor does the engine damage the road or frighten the horses.

Notes:

Invented and patented by Mr. Bray of Folkestone the previous year, its basic proposition, compared to other steam traction engines, were retractable spikes in the wheels making it suitable on soft ground when extended and on hard ground when not extended. The period 1857 to 1870 was a period of experimentation in the development of the traction engine.

Source: Mary Evans picture library.