3 ms·
...then again, his Atmospheric Railway was a glorious expensive failure. An evacuated tube carried a piston pushed by the atmospheric pressure behind it (hence
by andygates 8y ago
...then again, his Atmospheric Railway was a glorious expensive failure. An evacuated tube carried a piston pushed by the atmospheric pressure behind it (hence the name). The piston had a connecting rod to attach a carriage. Quiet, clean, lovely.
Pumping houses along the route made vacuum for each leg. It was a great idea, but materials science wasn't up to it: the seals kept cracking in the sea air and rats ate the leather skirt that kept vacuum round the piston rod. It was out of service a lot, and was soon abandoned for traditional railway.
I don't want Musk's implementation of a spitball idea that's been going round for ages to be like that, but I can't help wondering...
- user9182031 8y agoFrom Wikipedia.. "It is often asserted among enthusiasts' groups that the primary cause of the failure of the leather flap was rats, attracted to the tallow, gnawing at it. Although rats are said to have been drawn into the traction pipe in the early days, there was no reference to this at the crisis meeting described above."