work, from the top of the cage having been made flat, and the branches not having had their junction at top properly filleted. These valve guards are attached in different ways to the pipes; when one occurs at the junction of two pieces of pipe it has a flange, which, along with the flanges of the pipes and that of the valve seat, are held together by a union joint. It is sometimes formed with a thread at the under end, and screwed into the pipe. The balls are cast hollow, to lessen the shock as well as to save metal in some cases, where the feed-pump plunger has been attached to the cross-head, the piston-rod has been bent by the strain; and that must in all cases occur if the communication between the pump and boiler be closed when the engine is started, and there be no escape valve for the water. Spindle valves have in some cases been used instead of ball valves, but they are more subject to derange

ment. Slide valves might easily be applied, and would probably be found preferable to either of the other expedients. The pipes connecting the tender with the pumps should allow access to the valves and free motion to the engine and tender.

The feed-pipe of many engines enters the boiler near the bottom, and about the middle of its length. In Stephenson's, the water is let in at the smoke-box end of the boiler, a little below the water level. By this means, the heat is more effectually extracted from the escaping smoke; but the arrangement is of questionable applicability to engines of which the steam-dome and steam-pipe are at the smoke-box end, as in that case the entering cold water would condense the steam.

Wheels. The driving wheels are made large to increase the speed; the bearing wheels also are easier on the road when large. In freight engines, the driving wheels are smaller than in passenger engines, and are generally coupled together. Wheels are made in various ways; they are frequently made with cast-iron naves, and with the spokes and rim of wrought-iron. The spokes are forged out of flat bars with T-formed heads; these are arranged radially in the founder's mould, while the cast-iron centre is poured around them; the ends of the T heads are then welded together to constitute the periphery of the wheel or inner tire, and little wedge-form pieces are inserted where there is any

deficiency of iron. In some cases, the arms are hollow, though of wrought-iron, the tire of wroughtiron, and the nave of cast-iron; and the spokes are turned where they are fitted into the nave, and are secured in their sockets by means of cutters. Hawthorn makes his wheels with cast-iron naves, and wrought-iron rims and arms, but instead of welding the arms together, he makes palms on their outer end, which are attached by rivets to the rim. These rivets, however, unless very carefully formed, are apt to work loose; and we think it would be an improvement if the palms were to be slightly indented into the rim, in cases in which the palms do not meet one another at the ends. When the rim is turned, it is ready for the tire, which is now often made of steel. The materials for wheel tires are first swaged separately, and then welded together under the heavy hammer at the steel-works, after which they are bent to the circle, welded, and turned to certain gauges. The tire is now heated to redness in a circular furnace; during the time it is getting hot, the iron wheel, previously turned to the right diameter, is bolted down upon a face-plate or surface; the tire expands with the heat, and when at a cherry-red, it is dropped over the wheel, for which it was previously too small, and it is also hastily bolted down to the surface-plate; the whole load is quickly immersed by a swing crane into a tank of water about five feet deep, and hauled up and down

until nearly cold; the tires are not afterwards tempered. It is not indispensable that the whole tire should be of steel, but a dovetail groove turned out of the tire at the place where it bears most on the rail, and fitted with a band of steel, which may be. put in in pieces, is sometimes adopted, though at the risk of being thrown off in working. The steel, after being introduced, is well hammered, which expands it sideways, until it fills the dovetail groove, but it has sometimes come out. The tire is attached to the rim by rivets with countersunk heads, and the wheel is then fixed on its axle. The tire is turned somewhat conical, to facilitate the passage of the engine round curves-the diameter of the outer wheel being virtually increased by the centrifugal force, and that of the inner wheel correspondingly diminished, whereby the curve is passed without the resistance which would otherwise arise from the inequality of the spaces passed over by wheels of the same diameter fixed upon the same axle. The rails, moreover, are not set quite upright, but are slightly inclined inwards, in consequence of which the wheels must either be conical or slightly dished, to bear fairly upon them. One benefit of inclining the rails in this way and coning the tires is, that the flange of the wheel is less liable to bear against the side of the rail, and with the same view the flanges of all the wheels are made with large fillets in the corners. Wheels have been tried loose

upon the axle, but they have less stability, and are not now much used.

In all locomotives there is a very material loss of power from the contraction of blast-pipe necessary to maintain the blast; at high speeds one-half of the power of the engine is lost by the inadequate area of the steam passages, of which the greatest loss is that arising from the contraction of the blast-pipe. Tenders are now made larger, to obviate the necessity of so many fuel and water stations. Tenders can be put on any number of wheels, so that inconvenience is not likely to arise from their size and weight.

Cranked axle.-The cranked axle is made of wrought-iron, with two cranks forged upon it, towards the middle of its length, at a distance from each other answerable to the distance between the cylinders; bosses are made on the axle for the wheels to be keyed upon, and there are bearings for the support of the framing. The axle is usually forged in two pieces, which are then welded together. Sometimes the pieces for the cranks are put on separately, but those so made are liable to give way. In engines with outside cylinders the axles are straight, the crank-pins being inserted in the naves of the wheels. The bearings to which the connecting-rods are attached are made with very large fillets in the corners, so as to strengthen the axle in that part, and to obviate side play in