From our current stock of books for sale:
CRELLE, A.L.
Mémoire sur les différentes manières de se servir de l'élasticité de l'air atmosphérique comme force motrice sur les chemins de fer. Une de ces manières constitue les chemins de fer atmosphériques proprement dits.Berlin, 1846
Description
Following the opening and successful operation of the atmospheric Dalkey line outside Dublin, much European interest was focussed upon this system which promised to be so cheap and easy compared to a locomotive-powered line. The present work was written by a Prussian engineer and considers five different methods of the use of air to power railways. One of these is the Clegg-Samuda system while another has the piston driven from behind by compressed air, thus dispensing with the Clegg-Samuda continuous valve. The third system, proposed by an anonymous author in the 17th number of the "Journal des Chemins de Fer" for 1844, also involved a central tube but without a piston. Instead, the leading carriage would have a wheel which would be blown through the tube, presumably by a fan, a concept not dissimilar to that developed in the late 1850s by Rammell. The two final systems both involve the use of "air locomotives" ie. locomotives driven by compressed air. Crelle gives names of some French and German engineers who had built and experimented with such machines, for instance Andraud on the Paris-Versailles railway. The book, which gives unusual insight into contemporary Continental experiments and opinions on atmospheric propulsion, appeared simultaneously in German and French, the French translation being carried out by Crelle himself. It was distributed in France by the leading technical bookseller, Bachelier.
Collation
4to. vi + 199 + (1)pp, 6 engraved plates (5 folding). Orig. printed wrappers, uncut and unopened. A fine copy.Price
£350.00Catalogue No: 2768