Arrangements have been concluded with Mr. John Hamilton junier, of
Liverpool, manufacturer to the Corrugated Iron Boat and Army Wag- gon Company, to constrict a new marine locomotive of sufficient size to carry seven men upon the water, and it is expected that the trial will Come off in July next. The new locomotive is the invention of Mr. J. Alfred Novelle. He takes out no patent for it; but offers it freely to the use of all, with the request simply that all who edopt it will use his name—" Novelle craft." The machine may be thus described. In the first place, there is a square frame, formed of four beams, not altogether unlike the framework of an ancient waggon or carriage. To these are fitted, in lien of four wheels externally, five cylinders, fixed by their axles into the side beams, and lying transverse to the whole breadth of the frame. The middle cylinder is divided in half, so as to admit the apparatus for joining the,whole to the vessel above, and to the machinery by which it is to be worked. The entire structure rests, by these cylin- ders, on the water. The cylinders all rotate freely ; the middle pair of half cylinders being moved by the machinery, and constituting the driving wheels of the apparatus. The inventor has found that locomo- tion by means of rotation is easier than that universally adopted for water-carriages, every modification of which resolves itself into " a water sledge," gliding through the water. He has found that the degree of friction in the driving-cylinders is sufficient to make the driving- wheels effectual ; while the action of rolling attains far rester speed than that of gliding displacement. He thinks it even probable that water-carriages constructed on this principle may rival the speed of the railway, and be propelled at the rate of fifty or even seventy miles an hour.
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