Mr. John J. Thornycroft, a great authority on steam engines,
maintained on Tuesday before the British Associa- tion that road steam engines might be constructed of the highest value to trade if only the laws were altered. They could be constructed so as to carry loads of twelve tons at four miles an hour, and with tyres of 18 in. width they would not injure the roads more than horses do. They would, in fact, act as steam-rollers. At present, however, the law forbids the use of vehicles which, unladen, weigh more than three tons. To carry a load of one and a half tons of humanity on a road, the engine must weigh from four to five tons. He had no doubt whatever of the practicability of his plan, which we believe would make, to begin with, a kind of revolution in agriculture, allowing, as it would, of the free transmission of lime, manure, and heavy timber to the points where they were needed. We recom- mend Mr. Thornycroft's speech to Mr. Chaplin, as we do to the public at large, his suggestion that a substitute ought to be found for rubber as a tyre for heavy wheels,—it is much too dear. Mr. Thornycroft should find one himself, and so make a fortune beyond the dreams of avarice. Is not the key to be found in some treatment of wood ?
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