Unpublished paper, regarding railways by D [Dionysius] Lardner

Description

Lardner presents a series of mathematical formulae showing the most general expressions for the phenomena of the motion of trains on railways. He begins by investigating the analytical formulae for the traction of trains over a level line which is perfectly straight, and finds the distance and time within which, with a given amount of tractive power, the requisite speed may be obtained at starting. Lardner then finds the point where the tractive power must be suspended after coming to rest. The excess of tractive power necessary to get up the requisite speed is shown to be equal to the saving of tractive power previous to a stoppage, and formulae are given for the determination of the time lost under any given conditions at each stop.

Subject: Applied Mathematics / Mechanics

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 3 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'On certain parts of the theory of railways ; with an investigation of the formulæ necessary for the determination of the resistances to the motion of carriages upon them, and of the power necessary to work them'.

Reference number

AP/20/9

Earliest possible date

1836

Physical description

Ink on paper

Page extent

62 pages

Format

Manuscript