Horses of Iron

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MORITZ IMMISCH ~ 1838-1903 ~

VICTORIAN INVENTOR & PIONEER ~ ENGINEERING & INVENTION ELECTRIC MOTORS, DYNAMOS, ETC. (ENGLAND)

. "The World has lost one of the earliest Pioneers in the development of Electric power. A born Inventor; his mind teemed with ideas. Ahead of his time" ~ As stated in one of the obituaries (Electrical Review, 25th September 1903) about MORITZ IMMISCH (Inventor & Pioneer) Engineer, Manufacturer and Company Managing Director.
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SUMMARY OF (KARL) MORITZ IMMISCH'S LIFE, WORK & INVENTIONS

Moritz Immisch was born 'Karl Moritz Immisch' on 12th March 1838 in Niederschmon (near Querfurt, Germany) - the son of August Christian Von Immisch (& Anna Regina), of Thuringia, Germany. After graduating from university he moved to London/England in the early 1860s, and later married a young English lady Emma Welch at St John's Church, Marylebone, London, England, in 1876.

It is in connection with the "Immisch" motor and the early development of electric power that his name is chiefly remembered, although records of the patent offices of Europe and America show he had thought out (more or less) thoroughly a considerable number of practical problems. As a prolific inventor he filed over forty patents between 1881-90.

Originally he had started by making his name among the chief watch and clock manufacturers, and in 1872 had won the baroness Burdett-Coutts's prize for a thesis on the isochronism of the balance spring. Entitled "The Balance Spring" the thesis was subsequently published in book form. Moritz Immisch's talented mind, however, was neither fully occupied nor stretched in this limited work. Like others with great skill in instrument making, he became enthused by the opportunities presented by the new discoveries in electricity. It was thus his experiments in electricity, magnetism and general physics which soon attracted friends and capital.

About 1880 he entered into a business partnership with fellow-countryman Fritz Hubel, along with several British backers who found the necessary capital to extend the scope of his experiments. A small electrical works were opened at Malden Crescent, Kentish Town, and the "Immisch Motor" was gradually evolved, and won medals at the Inventions Exhibition of 1885, the Antwerp International Exposition of the same year, and at various subsequent exhibitions. From thence to 1891 the firm seemed on the high road to success. The works were full of pioneer orders for dynamos and motors for use in running plant machinery for electric light, power transmission, pumping and hauling in mines, electric trams, electric launches, electric cars, etc.

At this point it should be mentioned that Immisch's increasing reputation led to numerous people seeking his advice. Among those were Magnus Volk and the future Earl of Albermarle. [It is perhaps interesting to note: while Immisch, Hubel and Volk were originally from Germany, Viscount Bury's (Van Keppel) family were originally Dutch, arriving in England in 1688.]

Magnus Volk sought Immisch's views and advice over experiments to create an electric horseless carriage. A three-wheeled prototype was then built in 1888, powered by a 0.5hp Immisch motor. This was followed by a four-wheeled electric car specially made for and sold to the Sultan of Turkey. Built of walnut on an enamelled steel chassis, the fittings were all silver-plated and the upholstery was embroided with the Turkish Imperial crest. Immisch supplied the 20 amp 48 volt 1hp motor incorporating new designs he had patented. The Sultan was suitably impressed and promptly ordered another electric car, as well as an electric launch [See 'electric launches' below]. The creation and sale of the world's first electric cars manufactured by Volk with Immisch motors naturally brought both men international recognition. However, despite the publicity no other orders were received. As a result Immisch agreed to take over the Sultan's contract, allowing Volk to turn his attention to putting his troubled railway business back on its feet (~ earlier in 1883 Volk had received acclaim for building an electric railway along the sea front at Brighton). For a period Volk also assisted in the management of the Immisch & Company electric launch business on the Thames (see below).

Viscount Bury, son and heir of the 7th Earl of Albemarle, contacted Immisch over experiments with electric trams and launches. Bury had for some time been interested in electric powered trams, trains, and underground trains in London, and had discussed the possibilities with Thomas Edison in the 1870s while in the US. On his return to England he formed the Westminster Electric Traction Company and became involved in the Electric Traction Syndicate. The Syndicate's initial project involved converting Brighton & District Tramways to electric operation (and later other tram lines were also converted). In doing this they were supplied with Immisch Motors, which a few years later led to the Syndicate and Immisch's business being formed into one company named 'The General Electric Power & Traction Company" (in 1890).

By this time Immisch and Viscount Bury had already turned their attention to developing battery electric motor boats and launches. Immisch had built and was running a fleet of electric launches on the Thames, and among his fleet he had commissioned the building of the largest passenger electric launch in the world (run with an Immisch Motor) named "Viscountess Bury". [The launch remained in use for over a century - Current owner is the Viscount Bury Trust].

By 1889 the fleet of seven electric launches and five electric-recharging stations on the Thames were in great demand and profitable. At the same time Immisch's company had in one year doubled the output of electrical plant for lighting and power transmission. Also it was supplying pumping and hauling plant to collieries in various parts of the country, and was responsible for the trams on Barking-Canning Town route being converted from horse to electric power.

As already mentioned Moritz was a prolific inventor, filing over forty patents between 1881 and 1890, five of them covering designs for propellers and shafts. He was making motors for all kinds of application and won medals. His advertisement in the 1889 Electric Directory (Blue Book) mentions "Motors for Locomotives, Tramcars, Launches, Fans, Lifts, Cranes, etc., wound to any tension" and proudly states "Only medal ever awarded for Electrical Haulage, Newcastle, 1887".

Sadly for Immisch's company the costly attempts to foster electric traction led to financial difficulties. The firm was ahead of the times, and after suffering various vicissitudes of fortune the Malden Works were closed, and Moritz retired from manufacturing work. Afterwards he would appear publicly only as a director of the Immisch Electric Launch Company, of which he was the founder - The first eletric hire boat company in the world. His fleet of electric launches had continued to grow, and his company continued establishing a network of hire facilities and re-charging stations - 20 by the time of his death - later reaching 100 between Oxford and Teddington.

In the Electrical Review's obituary it concluded - 'As an employer, his decease will be regretted by the many men who passed through the Malden Works, and who - scattered all over the world - will think kindly of this large-hearted burly man, unapproachable today, yet ready tomorrow to appreciate merit'...'The World has lost one of the earliest Pioneers in the development of Electric power. A born Inventor; his mind teemed with ideas... He was ahead of his time'.

Although Moritz Immisch was originally German and raised in the German church, his English wife Emma was an Anglican and their children (who were born in England) were British subjects and members of the Church of England. It thus came as no surprise that Moritz himself became eventually a British subject after being officially naturalised in 1896. [Moritz's brother Bernhard Theodore Immisch also came to England - marrying and settling in Hull - and was an engineer.]
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FURTHER DETAILS ABOUT HIS WORK & INVENTIONS
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A - Clock/watch making : Moritz Immisch found opportunities to apply his watch-making skills, developing precision clockwork mechanisms, improving practical details and considering the further applications of the physical processes involved. From 1863 he was employed as foreman to the noted firm Le Roy & Son/Le Roy & Fils at their premises on Regent St. In 1872, when already a Council Member of the British Horological Institute, he submitted an essay on 'The balance spring and its isochronal adjustments' which was awarded the Institute's Baroness Burdett Coutts Prize . [The Prize was jointly awarded to Moritz Immisch and to Henry Phillips Palmer for both of their essays, published in the Horological Journal from April 1873. See Vol.XV, pp.85-88, 97-107, and 114-119; and also pp.133-141, and 145-151]. Immisch's prize essay was published in small book form - a work which remained in print for many years.
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B - Instrument making : In 1881 Moritz Immisch patented a remarkably small watch-shaped thermometer, functioning on the variable expansive properties of fluid in a Bourdon tube. [See. google.com/patents - US Patent for the Immisch Thermometer, from Google Patents]. This instrument was designed to be more robust than contemporary glass thermometers filled with mercury (element)|mercury - for this reason it was first branded as an 'avitreous', or metallic thermometer. The speed of the temperature-expansion and the calibration of the watch-dial indicator allowed very accurate readings to be taken, and its handy size made it highly portable as a clinical instrument. Hundreds of Immisch thermometers were tested for accuracy at the Kew Observatory every year after its launch. It was awarded a Silver Medal at the International Medical Congress of 1881 and received awards at the Inventions Exhibition of 1885 in London, as well as the Exposition Universelle in Antwerp and the Gewerbe und Industrie Ausstellung in Görlitz, also in 1885. Its small size made the device very popular and it was referred to in many medical journals throughout the 1880s both in England and in the US. [See for example the British Medical Journal, Provincial Medical Journal, The Lancet in 1885 and 1886. Immisch himself later wrote an article comparing the merits of his thermometer with others then in use for the New York Medical Journal in 1889. 'Comparison between mercurial and avitreous thermometers', N.Y. Med. J., Vol.50, 21 September 1889, pp.309-313.]
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C - Electrical work : Moritz Immisch had long been interested in the science of electricity and magnetism; as far back as the 1860s he understood the basic principles and measurements of Electrical resistance, voltage, and Electric current. In applying his mechanical skills and practical scientific approach to electro-magnetism, he entered into the design and construction of electric motors, of 'electro-motors' as they were then known. By 1880, his experiments in small dynamo-electric machines had led him to step away from watchwork and explore the new opportunities in the nascent electrical engineering industry. [See his letters to the Electrical Review published 23 December 1882, Vol.XI, pp.498-499; 6 January 1883, 20 January 1883 and 27 January 1883, Vol.XII, pp.14-15, 49, 64-65]. In 1882 he patented 'An improved electro-motor' [ref. GB patent (1882) 4665] and, together with a small number of friends and colleagues, he established a small company 'Messrs M. Immisch & Co.' with works in Kentish Town, first at Perry Road and then much more substantially at the larger premises at 19 Malden Crescent. [ref. Berly's Universal Electrical Directory, 1884, and the Electrical Trades Directory c.1889-1894.]
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D - Messrs Immisch & Co. : The company was composed of a number of fellow enthusiasts, local businessmen and supporters. Foremost amongst them was a friend and partner, Frederick William John Hubel, who was himself formerly involved in watchwork and who became in his own description an 'electrician' in the development of the company's electrical undertakings. Immisch & Co were established in 1882 and spent many years quietly improving the existing design of direct current motors, and finding new fields in which to apply their developing machine. They had notable success in the application of motors to mining work, and the Immisch name also came to be associated with some of the earliest electric road vehicles produced - Immisch motors, geared with chains made by Hans Renold were fitted to a series of electrical carriages and dogcarts in 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890 and 1896. This work was carried out in association with Magnus Volk, himself a very early electrical experimenter and engineer. News and illustrations of the 3 and 4-wheel vehicles constructed for the Sultan of Turkey, and of the award the Sultan gave to Volk brought both men to international notice. [See contemporary UK and foreign electrical and scientific journals The Electrician, Engineering, Cosmos, Electrical World, Science.] Moritz Immisch also employed Volk as a manager in the development of the first public fleet of storage battery electric launches and charging stations available for hire on the river Thames with its headquarters at Platt's Eyot. After 12 months of experimental work starting in 1888 with a randan skiff, the firm commissioned the construction of hulls which they equipped with electrical apparatus. From 1889 until just before the First World War the boating season and regattas saw the silent electric boats plying their way up and downstream.
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E - Electric Traction : Like his contemporary and fellow electric launch pioneer, Anthony Reckenzaun, Immisch became interested in the development of electric traction for urban transport. Both men had designed and built electric motors to be fitted to tramcars for the public and light railways for industrial purposes. Immisch motors were noted for their strong mechanical construction and light weight for the power produced.. [See S.P. Thompson's Dynamo-electric Machinery in various editions (English and American) from 1888-1903] In 1890, with hopes of a large scale expansion of electric traction on the existing horse-drawn trams/tramways, Immisch's Company, together with the Electric Traction Company chaired by Viscount Bury, sold itself to the General Electric Power and Traction Company Limited. This new company soon foundered however due to its reliance on accumulator traction. At the end of 1888 and during 1889 the Electric Traction Company, employing Immisch machinery and expertise, had instigated a trial of accumulator tramcars on the Barking Road section of the North Metropolitan Tramways Company's network. This small mile-long single-line track from Plaistow, Newham/Plaistow to Canning Town was chosen to prove the economy and reliability of the electric system. The 52 seat trams/tramcars, 6 in total (4 on the road at any one time), ran daily from June 1889 until August 1892. Despite the North Metropolitan Tramways Company having obtained a Local and Personal Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom/Private Act in 1890 to employ such electric tramcars throughout the network, the ultimate approval remained with the local authorities through whose areas the trams ran. In a time of growing municipal powers, the old contracting leases of the Tramways Act of 1870 were expiring and local authorities in the UK looked to buy out old lines from the tramway companies, to develop services of their own. These obstacles, together with the high costs of maintaining the accumulators on such a small installation were the end of the system, and it was evident that the General Electric Power and Traction Company had, in the circumstances, been overcapitalised. It was wound-up in 1894. Immisch continued to be involved in manufacturing work for a couple of years in the Acme Immisch Electric Works Company Ltd, but afterwards he retained an interest only as a director in the Immisch Electric Launch Company until his resignation in 1901. Having suffered from heart problems from a number of years, he died two years later. Obituaries on Moritz Immisch appeared in numerous publications, including the Electrical Review, Vol.53. No.1348, September 25, 1903: quote -"..The world has lost one of the earliest pioneers in the development of electric power. A born inventor; his mind teemed with ideas". Also see Journal of the (Royal) Society of Arts, Vol.51, p.892, 1903 ~ Moritz Immisch's obituary.
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REFERENCES:
'Electric Boats on the Thames 1889-1914' by Edward Hawthorne, 1995 Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd; ISBN 0-7509-1015-1 :

- Whole chapter in book devoted to Immisch ~ Chapter 2: "Moritz Immisch - Pioneer", pages 14-29.

- Another whole chapter about Immisch (on his pioneering electric launch company) ~ Chapter 3: "Immisch Electric Launch Company", pages 30-40.

- Chapter 12: "Propulsion System -Motors, Batteries, Charges", pages 148-150, 166-170; and an illustration of the famous 'Immisch Electric Motor' page 150.

- Also references on page 5 (Introduction),page 13 (chapter 1), page 117; and Appendix: 'The Immisch Fleet' pages 197-199, listing all the launches in Immisch's fleet on the Thames.
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The Royal Society of Arts ~ listed as a Fellow/Member in 1884 ~ Obituary appeared in the Journal of the(Royal) Society of Arts, Volume 51 (1902-1903), page 892 - published 1903 : quote - "One of the earliest pioneers in the development of Electric power".
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'The Electrical Review' ~ vol.53. no.1348, sept.25, 1903 ~ Obituary. Also between 1880-1903 many articles and reports on his work and inventions, and his published letters.
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Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 1904, page 237 ~ Obituary.

'Proceedings of the Institution of Electrical Engineers' (journal), 1899, page 394 ~ references.

'The Electrical Engineer', 1893, page 570 ~ references.

'British Biographical Index' [D-I],K.G. Saur 1990, page 985 ~ references.
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'The Times' (newspaper), London -
25 Dec 1888 (p.11) - The "Viscountess Bury" largest electric pleasure-boat launched by Mrs Immisch, in the presence of Viscount Bury & Moritz Immisch

29 Nov 1889 (p.3) - Immisch electric motor invented for pumping and hauling in mines.

8 Aug 1889 (p. - Immisch system for electric cars and trams.

2 June 1890 (p.14) - The "General Electric Power & Traction Company", directors Viscount Bury and Moritz Immisch (of Moritz Immisch & Co Ltd) 22 Nov 1894 (p.12) - Company business had over capitalised - Winding-up company

15 Mar 1907 - Olympia Motor Exhibition - Immisch Launch & Boat Company engines for motor boats.
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'The New York Times'-
13 Dec 1891 (p.17) - "The Electric Launch: a brief sketch of its history and development...", with references to Moritz Immisch's inventions, the 'Immisch motor', and his electric launch company.

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Really liking Dr.Currys' Landskiff...

Actually a rowing machine, good to 35mph:

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Horse-drawn street railways blew up big in North America by the 1880's. Putting rails down on city roads mean a smoother ride for the old omnibuses, plus lower-friction rails meant a horse could pull twice the weight, so cost of horses was reduced...

On December 12th and 13th, 1882, representatives from 31 street railway companies met at Young's Hotel in Boston, Mass. and formed the American Street-Railway Association.

From the address of the Chairman at this first meeting:

There are now organized and doing business in this country and Canada four hundred and fifteen street-railways. These companies employ an army of about 35,000 men. They run 18,000 cars, which, with the horses attached, would make a solid line of cars reaching from Boston to Albany. More than 100,000 horses are in daily use, and calculating that the average life of a horse in street-railway service is four years, it makes the consumption of horses 25,000 per year, a fact of much importance to the farmers of the country, east, west, north and south. To feed this vast number of horses requires annually 150,000 tons of hay and 11,000,000 bushels of grain.

These companies own and operate over 3,000 miles of track - nearly enough to span the country from Boston to San Francisco. The whole number of passengers carried annually is over 1,212,400,000, or a number nearly equal to the entire population of the globe. The amount of capital invested in these railways exceeds $150,000,000, with absolutely no security but the faithful and satisfactory service rendered the traveling public by the companies themselves. The objects of this contemplated Association should be the advancement of scientific and practical knowledge in the construction, equipment and management of street-railways. The public is continually requiring of us a better and higher order of service, for while, ten years ago, the street cars were run almost exclusively for the accommodation of the poorer and middle classes, now the wealthier classes are our most liberal patrons. A few years ago, the cab and the hack were the only vehicles called in requisition for the lecture, the concert and the theatre, but now the street-car is almost exclusively patronized for that purpose.

This first meeting basically just established the ASRA, their by-laws, and set up a second meeting in Chicago for the following year. They set up some sub-committees to present research papers for discussion the following year:

SPECIAL COMMITTEES.
According to the resolution adopted in the Convention, the Executive Committee determined upon the appointment, by the President, of the following Committees:
Track-Construction.
Propelling Power.
Buildings.
Labor and Wages.
Collection of Fares.
Removing Snow and Ice.
Horse-shoeing.
Heating and Lighting.

...in 1882, these street railway companies were exclusively horse-drawn enterprises, but "alternative power" was already in their mind. And over the next decade electrics completely transformed their industry.

In that first year the Boston folks organized a dinner for the out of town street railway folks and this became an annual banquet at their yearly conventions. The cover art for their annual banquet invitations sorta sums up what happened...

1884 in New York City:

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1886 in Cincinnati:

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1887 in Philadelphia:

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1888 in Washington:

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1889 in Minneapolis:

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1890, Buffalo:

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1891, Pittsburg:

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Through the 1880's, the North American street railroad industry was a huge focus for the development of electric motors and apparatus, AND batteries for traction power.

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By their 2nd meeting in Chicago, October 9th, 1883, the ASRA had grown to 62 members...

By their third meeting in New York City in October, 1884, 102 Member street railways...

From the minutes of the 1884 meeting:

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ELECTRICITY AS A MOTIVE POWER.

The Secretary read the following report of the Committee on "Electricity as a Motive Power:"

The Committee on Electricity as a Motor for Railroad Transportation, is not prepared to make a report from personal inspection; but from the information received from different sources, they feel justified in reporting the possibilities of the new system to be very flattering. The experiments made in different places demonstrate beyond question its safety and practicability, and it will not be long before the question of economy will be fully determined by the experiments at Cleveland, O. In this country and in Europe, there are now several Electric Railroads in successful operation. The Litchterfelde road, in Berlin, has been for four years a financial success, and the results of the experiments at Coney Island, Menlo Park, and by Messrs. Daft & Edison, at the Mechanics' Fair Building, at Boston, Mass., have thus far been very satisfactory and encouraging.

I herewith submit for your consideration the enclosed communication of Mr. W. A. Knight, of the Brush Electric Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, giving the result of the Cleveland experiment in detail. This letter, coming as it does, direct from the operator of the street-railroad at Cleveland, in response to a request from this Committee, soliciting such information as would be valuable and interesting to the Convention, is really the sum and substance of this report, and contains all the reliable information before the Committee. Respectfully submitted,

EDWARD C. PETERS, Chairman.
HENRY M. WATSON,
B. F. LASHAR.


LETTER FROM W. A. KNIGHT, OF THE BRUSH ELECTRIC COMPANY.

Brush Electric Company,
Cleveland, O., October 8th, 1884.

E. C. Peters, Esq.,

Chairman, Committee on Eleetrieity as a Motive Power:

Dear Sir,- Your favor of the 30th ult. is at hand, and contents noted. The electric railway which we are now operating here is about one mile in length, and at present only one car is run on it. The second car will soon be completed, and the line will then be extended across the railway tracks to a distance of about one and a half miles. This section, with its two cars, will be operated all Winter without intermission, to demonstrate the "rough and ready" character of the motor, after which the system will be extended over the twenty miles of tramway owned by the East Cleveland Company.

Last Winter we operated a trial railway, built in the yard of these works; and as it stood the test of all kinds of weather,we have no doubt in our own minds, as to its efficiency the year around.

Briefly, the system may be described as follows:

Midway between the rails a conduit eight inches deep is laid flush with the pavement, in the manner of a cable road. Two iron rails, serving as conductors, are supported within this conduit, and through a slot five-eighths of an inch wide in the top of the conduit, a plow depends from the car, and by means of two brushes makes contact with the conductors. Through this plow, the current is conveyed to the motor, which is situated between the wheels, under the car, and is tightly boxed up to prevent access of dust, etc. The motor weighs half a ton, and the car is an ordinary two-horse box-car, weighing, exclusive of motor, two tons. The motor is geared to the axles of the car by friction gear and link belts. The movement is controlled by levers at either end of the car, these levers operating the commutator brushes on the motor, to start, stop, or reverse the motor, or to make it go at any speed desired. It has been run at a speed of fifteen miles an hour.

The dynamo supplying the current is located about a mile from the line, and is run by the engine used by the Company for grinding corn. It is connected to the conductors in the conduit by an overhead line of No. 8 wire. In practice, no overhead line will be used, and a greater economy may be anticipated. The power is sufficient to run two cars, as the engine and dynamo, after being started in the morning, runs all day without attention. Only one man is employed to do the firing, and the expense of power, including fireman, coal and oil, is about four dollars a day.

With a larger plant, larger and more economical engines, boilers and dynamos would be used, and a much greater economy obtained.

The conduit will cost from five to seven thousand dollars a mile when made of steel, and it ought to last a lifetime. To equip an ordinary two-horse car will cost in the neighborhood of $1,500, and the power at the central station for each such car will be in the neighborhood of $1,200. Each car will pull another car of the same size.

The steepest grade we have experimented with is 500 feet to the mile, and no difficulty was found in overcoming it.

The conduit is kept free from dirt, snow, etc., by a brush depending from the car through the slot. Catch-basins are placed at intervals, varying from fifty to one hundred feet, and, where possible, a sewer connection is made.

The system is similar to a cable-road in that it requires a conduit and a central power station; but it differs in every other respect. It may be operated on single tracks, as well as on double tracks; and branches may run out from the main road in every conceivable manner. Any speed may be assumed at the will of the operator without wear of machinery. Ordinary car-drivers can operate it after five minutes' instruction. Stoppages can be made quickly by reversing the motor. Running off the track does not injure the machinery, and a flexible connection on every car enables the motor to run the car back on to the track when the lever is reversed. A much smaller conduit can be used than with cables, and there is no machinery along the line. The conductors cost but $200 a mile, and the wear of the brushes upon them seems to be nil.

We use a high tension current, because our investigations have shown us that when distances greater than one or two miles are to be overcome, no other current will give the necessary economy. The conductors are, however, inaccessible, and no danger is anticipated.

We are ready to equip any road not exceeding twenty-five miles in length.

Hoping I have touched upon the main points of interest,
I am, very truly yours,
W. A. KNIGHT.


On motion of Mr. Wright, the report was accepted, and directed to be entered in full on the minutes.

Mr. Wright said: I have for some years believed that electricity was the coming power for street-railways, and I have regarded everything connected with its development with a great deal of interest, and closely watched all attempts in various quarters of the globe to utilize this force. The Siemens and Halske process used one rail to carry the current, and another for the return. That was unsatisfactory, because passing horses in several instances got on both rails and the current passed through them. At the Paris Exposition they changed the construction, and carried the current by a wire overhead, on which a trolley ran, completing the connection with the dynamo. A gentleman who was at the Paris Exposition told me there was one great difficulty with it, however, the trolley would get off the track. At the Portrush road, in Ireland, they have, seventeen inches above the ground and twenty-two inches from the track, an iron "T" rail to carry the current, and thence it passes through the motor to the rails, which are insulated, and back to the generating machine. At each road crossing, this "T" rail had to be left out, and the current carried across by buried insulated copper wires; of course, if the car happened to stop in one of these openings it could not start again. To obviate this trouble, they had a brush at each end of the car, with which to make connection and take up the electricity. At the Brighton railroad, England, they built a wooden box in the centre of the track, and carried the electricity through copper bands. The contact there was made by chains that dropped from the motor and came in contact with these copper conductors. Thomas, of Cincinnati, had a very ingenious method. In his system, the electric current from the stationary dynamo is conveyed along the tracks by two copper wires placed in an iron tube between the tracks. The tube is open top and bottom; the former to allow contact with the wires from the motor, and the latter to allow water and dirt to drop through and keep the wires clean. The Siemens-Halske overhead wire would not be permitted in our crowded streets. The courts are compelling the telegraph companies to take down the wires they now have, and will be loth to permit other wires to be put up. Edward Bentley, of the Patent Office, said some time ago that "on a large scale, electricity as a motor, is only useful in transferring power to convenient localities, as when a machine which generates a current is driven by a distant waterfall; but the transmission of power into electricity and then its re-translation from electricity into power entails serious losses. The electric motor must remain subordinate to steam, water, or original force, until a new and cheaper source is discovered." It is, probably, known to the gentlemen of this Convention that the application of electricity for railroad purposes is not new, but in the earlier days, they used a battery. The following quotation will serve to illustrate: "Professor Page, of Salem, in 1845, revived and gave to the subject a new impetus by the invention of a new form of electric engine based upon the principle of the axial force of electro-magnetism, which proved to be the most perfect electric motor ever invented up to that time. A few years later Professor Page proposed electricity as a motive power for railroads, through the instrumentality of his own electric engine. The engine proved so successful and attracted so much attention, that the idea gained favor to such an extent, as to induce Congress to appropriate and place at Professor Page's disposal a sum of money - thirty thousand dollars - adequate to construct and operate an electric locomotive in accordance with his plans. Such a locomotive was built in 1851, and used to propel a train of cars between the cities of Washington and Bladensburgh, a distance of five miles. As was natural, such an undertaking created great excitement and discussion in the scientific world, both at home and abroad, more especially because of the governmental sanction and assistance lent the enterprise. The great mathematician and scientist, Dr. Joule, and many others, very properly contended that the system would be too expensive, and that electricity, as then generated, could not be used as a motive power with sufficient economy to warrant its adoption on a commercial scale. In fact, it was this very discussion which led Dr. Joule to that long and laborious investigation of the mechanical equivalent of heat, which now forms the basis of all our works on thermo-dynamics, and without which we should be groping in the dark. It was on the 29th day of April, 1851, that Dr. Page made the trial of his locomotive. It ran at the rate of nineteen miles per hour, making the trip of five miles in thirty-nine minutes. The locomotive itself weighed ten and one-half tons, including the batteries, and carried seven passengers. There were many stops and delays on account of the breaking of his battery cells, which were carried upon the locomotive, the jars fulfilling the office of a steam locomotive boiler and furnace, zinc and sulphuric acid in the former case constituting the fuel. The sulphuric acid and zinc were burned or consumed in the production of electricity. This is the principle upon which it was sought to operate all the electric engines thus far referred to. Electricity was here called upon to serve as a prime motor, utilizing the energy stored in sulphuric acid and zinc. The folly of such an effort is manifest, since one pound of zinc costs twenty-five times more, and is not capable of being transformed into as much dynamic force, as one pound of coal. Although Dr. Page's hopes were not realized, as far as refers to the commercial aspect of the enterprise, he, nevertheless, accomplished a great feat, and, to the day of his death, he contended that the time would surely come when electricity would be economically used as a motive power upon railroads." A French syndicate made an experiment in regard to manufacturing electricity; and tested the system of transmitting electricity in Paris. "In these experiments," to give another quotation, "it appeared that 6.21 horse power was put into one dynamo-machine, revolving at the rate of five hundred revolutions per minute, and connected by wires to another machine, making 365 revolutions per minute; the length of wire corresponded to 5.28 miles. The latter machine gave out 2.03 horse power upon the brake. This amounts to a useful duty of 32.7 per cent., the rest being lost." It is but fair to state that a much larger percentage of useful effect is claimed for electricity. Dr. Wellington Adams, of St. Louis, has experimented in electricity. I have an interesting paper, in which he slates: "Considering this question of electric transmission of power from its two principal standpoints, first, as regards the electric current developed from the mechanical power, the steam engine, for instance; and second, as regards the amount of mechanical power reclaimed from this current at the distant point, through the instrumentality of an electro-dynamic motor, the efficiency of the system is seventy per cent., allowing seven per cent, for loss by leakage in, and resistance of, the connecting conductor. The amount of energy lost by the two conversions from mechanical motion into electrical energy, and from electrical energy back again into mechanical motion, is a fixed quantity, and practice has demonstrated this to be thirteen per cent, from the first, and ten per cent, from the second process, when the most efficient types of electric generator and motor are used. The other element of loss, that by leakage in and resistance of the connecting conductor, will naturally vary with the conditions in each individual case, and will depend entirely upon the size and insulation of the connecting conductor. In general, it will, in my opinion, be best to base a calculation upon a seven per cent, loss in the conductor, allowing five per cent, for resistance and two per cent, for leakage." I have heard that Mr. Edison has experimented at Menlo Park, in an effort to obtain electricity directly from the coal, without passing through the steam-engine process; and I think that whenever a cheaper method of manufacturing electricity is obtained, it will possess advantages which cannot be found in any other direction. Other experiments seem to demonstrate that the adhesion of the wheel upon the rail is increased upon the electric current. In this lies the advantage of the cable system; their motive power is independent of adhesion of the wheel to the rail. We are dependent upon adhesion in any other system, except that of the cable and animal power. Without direct experiment, I question if the adhesion on a street rail is more than one-quarter of that upon a " T" rail, while the resistance to progression is greater. Experiments which I have made would indicate that this resistance is from three to five times greater; in other words, that the engine or motor would have to be from twelve to twenty times as heavy as a locomotive engine upon a clean "T" rail, when you depend upon adhesion to propel your car. That the electric current increases the adhesion has, it is claimed, been demonstrated by experiments, and that is a very great advantage. I think that the day is coming when electricity will be very generally used as a motive power.

Mr. Hasbrouck said: A number of gentlemen from New York and Brooklyn, including myself, went to Menlo Park to witness the performance of the electric railway. There is a track there about two miles long, with some pretty short curves. My friend, Mr. Wharton, who was there, said he was frightened, and expected that the car would get off the track going around some of those curves. I told him I did not feel frightened, and did not know anything about it to make me so. All I know of electricity is about as much as the boy's father did about steam, who said to his son, while looking at the engine on a steamboat: "You see that thing, and you see this; well, that connects with this over here, and this connects over there, and that makes the steamboat go."

Mr. Wharton said: There is no doubt that the advance made in electricity will call forth greater effort for improvement in the systems of propelling cars. On the particular occasion alluded to by Mr. Hasbrouck, when we took a ride at Menlo Park, it was upon a poorly constructed road, part of it around sharp curves and across trestle work, and we ran a portion of the time at forty miles an hour. We started off with the electric motor behind us, the car being pushed in front of it, which I did not like very well. As to the fact of going rapidly, that can be no doubt successfully done by electricity. It appeared to me then to be a question principally of economy. A large stationary steam engine was used in the engine house, and nobody could tell us how much of its power was required to propel the electric motor and the car, which was a small one, similar to a one-horse car on a street-railway. We went rapidly, and often too rapidly, to be safe or pleasant. The gauge of the track I think was three feet six inches, and some of the curves were of very short radius. We were pushed one way, and pulled the other, by the electric motor. In Philadelphia lately an experimental railroad was put down, about 1,000 feet in length. It was successfully worked, the parties tell me, during the three or four days previous to the close of the Electrical Exposition. This railway consists of an ordinary track of two "T" rails, with a third "T" rail in the centre, which conveys the electric current in one direction. This passes through the dynamo on the car and through one of the car wheels, and returns by one of the other rails. It worked successfully. I have in my pocket an invitation which was intended to be presented to the members of this Association, to examine its practical working, and I am sorry that the Fair closed too soon to allow this invitation to be accepted by you. It does appear to me that in some way or other electricity will be utilized for this purpose. Things are working in that direction, and a great many minds are seeking to solve the problem.

Mr. Wm. Richardson inquired: What system was that in Philadelphia?

Mr. Wharton replied: The Electric Dynamo Company's, of which Mr. W. W. Griscom is the President.

Mr. Hasbrouck remarked: Mr. Cyrus W. Field was in attendance. He prophesied that in two years he would have it in operation on one of the elevated roads in New York.

Mr. C. A. Richards said: I speak of this matter with no ordinary interest. I cannot give the Convention anything but my thoughts in the matter; I cannot speak at length and discuss positive and negative poles. I know nothing about the machinery necessary for the application of electricity as a power. I think if I should wander into that domain at all, and attempt to describe anything about it, my ignorance would be so plain, that it is better that I should not attempt it; but, sir, for a number of years, I have been an interested reader of all matters connected with it. I have followed, so far as I could, the investigations of science, as detailed through such information as might be published. I have asked myself the question, "What is it to be, and what is to come of it?" - No man living, gentlemen, can tell what electricity is. There is no one, there is no scientist in the world - no matter how deep his research - who can tell what it is. It is something that pervades the atmosphere; it is around us; it is everywhere, and we know nothing about it. It seems to me, sir, if I may take up the time of the Convention and give a few thoughts on the matter, that when the Creator desires to confer a new blessing on the world, it is never done at once. Compare it, if you please, with our human lives. We come into the world helpless, poor and naked; but there are tender hands to lead us on. They care for us, and as life goes on, we are educated, until we arrive at perfect manhood; so the Creator presents this power of electricity to us. I care not what one tells me of the crude developments of it to-day. When we use the term, which we frequently do, that this or that invention is in its infancy, go with me in my thoughts, as I have gone to the infancy of manhood. I believe, sir, we are but on the border line; we but stand within the shadow of this great power, and I think it presumptuous in any man, I care not what may have been his researches in this matter, to tell us what the future will be. Trace with me, for a moment, what we have seen since we were boys. I scarcely look upon a face in this room but that can go back with me to the birth of the telegraph; when Morse, in his crude way, even on shipboard, stretched a wire from one part of the ship to the other, and then and there this great power was conceived and had its birth. Soon after that we found intelligence flashing around the world, and to-day it and it alone has changed the force of nations. Trade no longer seeks the same channels. Intelligence, which is the guiding star of our lives, flashes around us everywhere; from where the sun rises to where it sets! What follows? Another man, taking this child by the hand, leads it on; and what does he present? Why, sir, you may write me a letter from one distant clime to another; you may give me every means that shall tell me that it is you at one end and I at the other; but when I stand and listen and hear the audible tones of your voice, something tells me that the child is being led, is growing, and has taken a further step towards manhood. Who shall tell me, who dares to rise and assert that the next thing shall not be a motor? So far as the power goes, we know not what it is. No man dares to say what it is! To ignorant minds like ours, you may use all the scientific terms that you please; you may take us to Philadelphia, or elsewhere, as I have been, and show us some engine, or a car, running on a track, and say that its motive power is electricity - it receives its power from here and is imparted there, and the car runs. I stand aghast! I know nothing, but I see one thing - that a step is being taken towards its manhood. I firmly believe that this idea, being born and given by the Creator to the world, that now all the scientific men and all the scientific intelligence and knowledge of the world is at work upon it. Not with the brain of Morse, who conceived it; not with the energy of Bell, who used it; but each and all lending their aid in its grand development. And now, sir, who shall dare tell me, when I walk at night under its light, which almost equals the sun at noonday; when I can speak to my friend so many miles away, and when I can stand here now, if need be, and hear the voices of dear ones at home, who shall dare tell me that we shall not have a motor impelled by that power? What is a motor to us? It is simply the power to drag our cars. Today, for the most of us here, it is horses. A step has been taken with steam, and that is the cable; and the next step, gentlemen, as sure as God reigns, is going to be electricity! To-day we sit and dream and wonder. As I stood in England before the first steam engine that was ever made, and when, as I looked upon its uncouth and grotesque form, seemingly but the child in its very infancy of machinery; and then, when the first train passed by me, with its mighty rush and roar, driven by its great throbbing locomotive, I felt that I had on the one hand the infant child, and on the other the full grown man. We come here and listen wisely and intelligently to my friend here, who has preceded me on this subject. I was an earnest listener to his remarks and to the study that he had given to the subject, and the earnestness that he evinced in the matter. But, my dear sir, you and I, and all of us, are in the shadow yet of this all-pervading and yet unseen power. I have been urged to use cables upon my road; to use engines; to put steam upon it; to find all sorts of substitutes for the horse, but I said no: I am settled in my conviction, and while, perhaps, with a native shrewdness, I let others experiment and spend their money, I simply say, "Wait." Wait in silence and with enduring faith. There, gentlemen, is my text upon electricity. I trust you will pardon me for the time I have taken; but all I have to say on electricity as a motive power is - Wait! [Applause.]

Dr. Elijah Whitney said: Mr. President, I would like to say a word. While I approve most heartily of the remarks that have been made, and of the suggestions advanced in relation to the motive power in question, I wish to say, first, that we live in an age of progress. It is not wise to take great exceptions to the progress that is being made around us; and, I had almost said, within us. We know not what we may be. The condition of our knowledge of the mode of the application of electricity for the purposes of a motive power, is no more obscure than it was when we first learned the condition of the application of steam as a motive power. We might compare the question as presented here to-day, with that which was presented early in the history of steam. That produced as much of a marvel in the community, as does electricity to-day. We knew, perhaps, more about steam, how to produce it, but no more how to use it and apply it than we know to-day about electricity, and how to apply But we have learned something on both of these points. One of the marvels of electricity is, that we do not know exactly what it is. The gentleman who has just taken his seat has asked whether anyone could tell, could answer the question, what it may be. I would say that electricity is that fluid which pervades all nature. It is not alone around us, but it is within us; and if we should attempt to explain it, I would say that it has an analogy to that principle which we call life. It might be, for aught I know, the principle which underlies all the thought that we have of life itself. I cannot say when I raise this arm and attempt to give it that power which will cause it to fall heavily upon my neighbor, that it is not electricity. I am not sure about that. I think there is more probability that electricity has much more to do with all our movements and with all our actions, than we are, or think we are, aware of. I do not think that it cannot be applied as a motive power for the movement of machinery. I have alluded to the production of steam, and the difficulty of its application to the steam engine. It was because I traversed the Sound in the first steamboat that ran from Providence to New York. We got on board of the boat at eleven o'clock, and we landed at ten o'clock in the evening of the next day, and thought we had done wonders. A more frightened multitude I never saw in my life, and never expect to see again, than I did when we approached Hell Gate. It seemed as though the captain and pilot were as much frightened at the approach to Hell Gate as the multitude aboard the boat, and the boat was very full. Yet we came into New York safely, and we rejoiced in the great exploit of coming from Providence to New York by steam. I stood also in Baltimore, watching the movement of this great power of electricity upon the wire that was stretched from Washington to Baltimore - the first wire that ever conveyed an intelligent message from one point to another. I stood there when the message came, and heard it read, and heard the communication that went back in answer to it. In a few moments came back the second answering message intelligently. There people were talking with each other at a distance of some forty miles, I believe, if my memory serves me correctly. When I recall these remembrances, these things that occurred in days that are past, I cannot help believing that electricity will ultimately be used as a motive power, used as we now use steam! Mr. President, you will excuse me for these remarks which I have made. I suppose they are not very well constructed, as I am suffering, like many others, from the infirmities of age, for, if I am permitted to live until the 26th day of November next, I shall see my eighty-seventh birthday!

Dr. Whitney's remarks were received with applause.

[Lock]

By their fourth annual meeting in St.Louis, Mo., October 21-23, 1885, membership had grown to 125 street railways (Membership numbers do not tell the tale in absolute terms as EVery year these companies were being bought out and merging etc...)

From the minutes:

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PROGRESS OF ELECTRICITY AS A MOTIVE POWER.

Mr. Wright, of Chicago, then read the report of the Committee on the Progress of Electricity as a Motive Power, as follows:

The American Street-railway Association,

Mr. President and Gentlemen:- Your Committee beg to report upon the important subject of the Progress of Electricity as a Motive Power, as follows:

Yourself, Mr. President, in words glowing with eloquence, stated at our last Convention how little we know of the wonderful force called electricity. "Electricity" is derived from the Greek word ηλεκτρόνιο (electron), expressive of amber. Thales of Miletus, a celebrated Greek philosopher, 600 years before Christ, having observed the remarkable property of amber by which it attracted light particles of matter upon being subjected to a peculiar kind of excitation by friction, called this force electron. Nearly 2,500 years have since elapsed and we still only know this wonderful force by its effects. Electricity has been defined by Grove as "that affection of matter or mode of force which most distinctly and beautifully relates other modes of force, and exhibits, to a great extent, in a quantitative form, its own relation with them and their reciprocal relations with it and with each other." Wells wrote, "Electricity is a subtile agency or force, without weight or form, that appears to be diffused through all nature, existing in all substances, without affecting their volume or temperature, or giving any indication of its presence, when in a latent or ordinary state. When, however, it is liberated from this repose, it is capable of producing the most sudden and destructive effects, or of exerting powerful influences by a quiet and long-continued action."

Tyndal wrote, "We have every reason to conclude that heat and electricity are both modes of motion; we know experimentally that from electricity we can get heat, and from heat, as in the case of our thermo-electric pile, we can get electricity. But, although we have, or think we have, tolerably clear ideas of the character of the motion of heat, our ideas are very unclear as to the precise nature of the change which this motion must undergo in order to appear as electricity; in fact, we know as yet nothing about it."

Gordon wrote, "We have as yet no conception of electricity apart from the electrified body; we have no experience of its independent existence." He estimates that "the velocities in air of light and of electro-magnetic induction are sensibly equal - 185,521 miles per second."

Wheatstone, in 1834, by a beautiful experiment, showed that the velocity of an electrical discharge through a copper wire a half mile in length, was 288,000 miles per second. The results obtained by the United States Coast Survey, with galvanic electricity and iron wire, show a velocity of from 15,000 to 20,000 miles per second. Your Committee will not occupy your valuable time in enlarging upon the wonderful discoveries that have resulted from the investigations of Faraday, Cavendish, Franklin and others, but will proceed to speak of the application of this force.

One of the oldest electric motors was that of the Abbe Salvatore del Negro, Professor of Natural Philosophy at Padua. A dynamo machine made by him and recently exhibited bears the date 1830. It consisted of a magnet movable around an axis situated at about one-third of its length, the upper extremity of which was capable of oscillating between the two branches of an electro-magnet. A current being sent into the electro-magnet passed through an 8-cup mercurial commutator, that the oscillating magnet controlled by means of a rod and a fork. As a result of such an arrangement, when the magnet had been attracted towards one of the poles of the electro, this very motion of attraction, acting upon the commutator, changed the character of the current, and the magnet was repelled toward the other branch of the electro, and so on. This apparatus possessed an interesting detail. The movable magnet, where it touched the poles of the electro, abutted, not against the iron itself, but against the insulating wire that covered it. Either by accident or design the author thus avoided those inconveniences connected with remnant magnetism which afterwards embarrassed other inventors.

March 1st, 1834, an English patent was taken out by Henry Pinkus for a "dynamic-traveler, intended to propel vessels and carriages on canals, railways and common roads by means of magnets and electricity, as well as pneumatic power."

In 1838 Mr. Cook, of Saratoga, N. Y., made an interesting exhibition of an electro-magnetic machine in Barclay street, New York. In 1838 and 1839 Professor Jacobi, by means of an engine on the same principle, propelled a vessel, containing ten persons, along the Neva, at the rate of four miles per hour.

In 1841 "the Germanic Confederation, desiring to acquire, for the purpose of publishing for the public good, the secret by which citizen Philip Wagner, of Frankfort, makes use of electro-magnetism as a moving force, will secure to the said Wagner, for the exclusive possession of his secret, the sum of 100,000 florins ($55,000), on condition that he cause an electro-magnetic machine to be constructed at his own expense and upon a sufficiently large scale to serve as a locomotive." We do not find that Wagner accepted this proposition.

In 1841 Robert Davidson, a mechanic of Aberdeen, exhibited working models of a turning lathe, printing machine, saw-mill and locomotive carriage, driven by the power of electro-magnetism. In October, 1842, his electric locomotive carriage was tried upon the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway. It was 16 feet long, 6 feet wide, and weighed about 5 tons. Its speed was about four miles per hour. Time will not permit a description of Joule's electro-magnetic engine, Davenport's, Lockey's, Clarke's. Wright's, Taylor's, Watkins', and many others. In 1840 Professor Page, of Salem, Mass., invented a new form of electric engine, based upon the principle of the axial force of electro-magnetism, which proved very successful, and Congress appropriated $30,000 to construct and operate such a locomotive. It was built in 1851, and used to propel a train between Washington and Bladensburg, five miles. It weighed, with batteries, 10 1/2 tons, and carried seven passengers at the rate of nineteen miles per hour.

We must not omit to mention that in 1833, Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian Institute, invented the first motor for producing rotary motion by electro-magnetism without a reciprocating action.

The first machine for the production of a current constant in direction and intensity is said to have been the electro-magnetic ring machine of Dr. Pacinotti, of Pisa, Italy, in 1860. "Wilde, in England, constructed a machine in 1866, involving several new principles and possessing a power before undreamed of. It is the type and original of many of the best machines now in use." (Younge.)

In 1869 M. Griel, a French military officer, invented an electric motive engine, based on the action of currents on currents. He stated that he could apply his machine to railroads, and by causing the electricity to wash from the wheels of the machine, upon the rails, ascend any grade with the greatest facility. In 1872 the Gentry Electric Railway Car was exhibited at Nashville, Tenn. This engine was composed of a number of magnets. The armature was made to work by breaking and closing the circuit. It was proposed to build an elevated railroad upon poles set in the curbstone, and carry mails and light packages at a speed of one hundred miles per hour.

The efforts, so far, of inventors were directed to the application of electricity generated by the action of acid upon zinc. Prof. Morton wrote: "The source of energy in the battery is practically the zinc consumed. Weight for weight, coal has almost six times the available energy of zinc; while, moreover, the price of zinc is about twenty-five times that of coal. In the race between the two, therefore, zinc starts with this enormous disadvantage, that an equal amount of energy obtained from it will cost about 150 times as much as if obtained from coal." According to Joule, the consumption of a grain of zinc, though 40 times more costly than agrain of coal, produces only about one-eighth of the same mechanical effect. The power obtained in this way was too expensive to compete with steam. Dr. Adams wrote upon this subject: "You ask, I imagine, what has rendered possible at this day (1884) that which was thirty years back demonstrated impracticable; and in what respect does the modern electric railway differ from that of the past? My answer is: That which has rendered the electric railway commercially feasible, is the discovery by Messrs. Varley, Siemens and Wheatstone, and the subsequent development by many others of the dynamo-electric machine, and the further discovery or demonstration by MM. Fontaine and Gramme of the reversibility of that machine, which admits of its being transformed into the most efficient form of an electric motor, when a suitable electric current is passed through it. The difference between the ancient and the modern electric railway consists in the fact that whereas the effort was formerly made to use electricity as a primary motive power originating from the consumption of zinc and acid, we now use the electric engine or electro-dynamic machine, as a secondary motor, and the electric current simply as a means of transmitting power procured from natural sources, or previously generated by any of the known economic methods."

Greer states: "When the late lamented Clerk Maxwell was asked by a distinguished scientist what was the greatest scientific discovery of the last quarter of a century, his reply was, 'That the Gramme machine is reversible.' If he were alive to day, he would probably say that the storage of electricity was the greatest invention or discovery of the last quarter of a century." Gramme first described his continuous current machine in 1871, and his alternating machine in 1878.

If an electric current be sent through the wires of a Gramme machine, the armature will revolve and the machine can be employed to do mechanical work. By means of two such machines, one driven by water or steam power to generate electricity, the electric currents produced can be carried through insulated wires to the second machine at a greater or less distance, which they will cause to revolve and do mechanical work.

We now reach the first practical electric railway. In 1879 Dr. Werner Siemens introduced his electric railway at the Berlin Industrial Exhibition, with an isolated centre rail. During the Summer of 1880, it worked at the Brussels Exhibition, and May 16th, 1881, the first electric railway was opened for passenger traffic at Berlin, by Messrs Siemens and Halske. It was about one and a half miles long, gauge one meter (3 feet). Permanent way was constructed as upon ordinary railways, on cross-ties, with steel rails connected by fish-plates and short straps of iron, bent in the form of a bridge, to allow contraction and expansion of the rails and reduce electrical resistance. Currents were low tension, and no difficulty was experienced in using the one rail as positive, the other as negative, conductor. A steam engine ran the dynamo, and the current was carried from it to the rail under ground. The car was similar to ordinary tram cars, seating twenty persons. Each end was provided with starting levers, brake handle and signal bell. The dynamo machines under the car transmitted its movements to the wheels by spiral steel springs. The wheel tires are insulated from the axles and run in electrical connection with brass rings fastened on the axles, but insulated from them. Contact brushes pressed against these brass rings, and from them the current was conducted to the dynamo machine, setting it in motion. The greatest speed allowed was 12.4 English miles per hour. In 1882 a second car was placed on the line, when it was found that the two cars moved in either direction as safely and with the same speed as a single car, but the steam engine that provided the electric current had to exert twice the power. On the tramway from Charlottenties to the Spandauer Berg, in the Western outskirts of Berlin, Dr. Siemens overcame a rising grade of one in thirty. The line constructed as an ordinary tramway is distinguished by two thin wire cables about nine inches apart and carried on telegraph poles about fifteen feet high. These cables are parallel to the track and upon them runs a small eight wheeled carriage. A wire extending from this to the tramway car dynamo conveys the electricity to the latter. This was the form adopted at the Paris Exhibition, but it was said not a little difficulty was experienced from this carriage getting off the wires. This plan was likewise adopted for the Siemens' Electric railway at the collieries of the Donnersmarckhutte Co., in Silesia, on which latter the speed was eight miles per hour. In October, 1881, work was begun on an electric railway between Portrush and Brush Mills, in Ireland, by Sir W. Siemens. The capital stock was about $225,000. The line, six miles long, is worked by electricity generated by turbine water wheels. The gauge is three feet. One-half mile is in a street in Portrush; the balance in a country road. Rails are laid on one side of the road, and ordinary traffic cut off by raised curbstones. It has grades of one in thirty-five, and occupies a space six feet wide in the street. An underground cable carries the electricity to a "T" iron, supported on posts ten feet apart. It is twenty-two inches from the inside of track rail and seventeen inches above the ground, to some extent forming a fence. From this "T" iron the electricity reaches the motor through two brushes, one at each end of the motor pressed against the "T" iron by springs. At each road crossing, this "T" iron is necessarily left out and the current is carried across by buried insulated copper wires. The car is long enough to reach across most of these openings, so that one brush touches. In dry weather this rail has to be lubricated, but in wet weather the dampness suffices. From the brushes the current passes to a commutator worked by a lever, thence through the axle boxes to the axles, through the wheels to the rails. The latter are insulated and carry the return current back to the generating machine. The speed was ten miles per hour. In 1883 the electric railway at Wimbledon was in operation, with a speed of six miles per hour, with nineteen passengers, over a rough track. The current was generated from a Weston dynamo driven by a twelve-horse power engine, and carried by two flat copper bands an inch broad, laid in the bottom of a groove in long wooden troughs between the rails supported on wooden blocks saturated with pitch. The insulation was quite perfect.

The electro-motor invented by Leo Daft was given a trial November 24, 1883. on the Saratoga, Mount McGregor & Lake George Railroad. The small motor hauled a passenger car well filled over a mile and a half of road; but on the return trip jumped the track at a sharp curve and was wrecked. The gauge was three feet. The track was prepared for the motor, by tightening the fish-plates and laying a centre insulated rail upon wooden blocks saturated with pitch. It surmounted a sharp curve and 9.3 feet grade. The motor weighed 4,500 pounds, was nine feet six inches long, five feet wide, and three feet above the rail, provided with necessary levers, etc. Two phosphor bronze wheels, pressed firmly upon the centre rail by steel springs, carried the electricity to the switches and key-boards, thence to the electric engine, and through the driving-wheels to the outer rails. It is claimed that experiments proved the electricity increased the adhesion twenty per cent. - a most important feature. The motor took seventeen tons of car and passengers, and it was said no difficulty was experienced from ice and snow.

Thomas A. Edison built an experimental line at Menlo Park. The motor contained a dynamo, but appeared like a small locomotive without a smoke-stack. A speed of forty miles per hour is said to have been obtained. Stephen D. Field spent years in perfecting his system of electric motors; and the Electric Railway at the Chicago Exposition of Railway Appliances was a combination of the Field and Edison systems. The electricity was communicated from a stationary dynamo to the motor by an extra insulated rail in the centre of the track, through brushes bearing upon each side of the latter.

Dr. W. Adams exhibited a working model of an electric railway in St. Louis in April, 1884. He stated: "This idea of the generation by dynamo-electric machines of powerful currents of electricity at stationary points, and the transmission of these electric currents to cars while in motion for the purpose of effecting their propulsion, was first put into execution in 1879 by Dr. W. Siemens and myself, both working independently, and mutually ignorant of the other's doings." Dr. Adams proposed to "apply the electric power directly to every wheel, to the point of traction where the power is absorbed - the work done, and yet our wheel is neither an 'armature' nor a 'field' of a dynamo. It is both combined. Each wheel is animated, having power within itself. Hence every wheel becomes a veritable locomotive."

W. M. Thomas, of Cincinnati, in his patents, proposed to carry an electric current through two insulated copper wires placed in an iron tube in the horse-paths, making this tube open top and bottom; the former to allow contact between the motor and the condutors, and the latter to permit water and dirt to drop through into a tunnel beneath, thus keeping the conductors clean.

In November, 1884, important action was taken by the Manhattan Elevated Railroad of New York, in permitting the laying of a central conductor along its Second avenue lines, for the purpose of experimenting with electrical propulsion. Five electric companies - the Edison, Field, Brush, Siemens and Daft - proposed to pool their patents, but we understand this idea was not consummated. However, experiments were begun and are still under way. The Daft system is applied to the Hampden branch of the Baltimore Union Street Railway Company, a third rail, insulated and placed between the track rails being used, weighing twenty-five pounds per lineal yard. The Ridge Avenue Passenger Railway Company, of Philadelphia, has given permission to the American Electric Railway Company to lay a conduit and experimental line. This was the Bidwell Company, and during the Franklin Institute Electrical Exposition in the fall of 1884, it operated an experimental line, carrying thousands of passengers.

In 1884 it was stated that 5,872 patents in electricity had been taken out in the United States. Such is now the activity among inventors that time will not permit a mention of many other more or less deserving motors. Your attention was called at the last Convention to the Bentley-Knight system at Cleveland, Ohio. It has continued in use during the past year with most gratifying success, as we are informed. You have, doubtless, received copies of their pamphlet setting forth the advantages in the use of electrical motors.

On October 20th, 1880, and February 9th, 1881, M. Camille Faure, of France, patented an "accumulator," an improvement on Plantes' secondary battery. Time will not permit an extended description. Suffice it to say that an "accumulator" does not store up the electricity that is put into it; but the action of the electric currents effects certain chemical changes upon the contents of the accumulator, or does work. Like the Gramme machine, this current can be reversed, and the store of work gives us currents of electricity. Once charged by electricity, the accumulator may be kept a considerable length of time without losing its power, and gives out a current steadily, similar to an ordinary voltaic cell. Patents for accumulators and storage batteries have been taken out by E. Volckmar, J. S. Sellon, C. VV. Siemens, Brush, Scardel, Keith, Kabath and others. The improved Faure-Sellon-Volckmar accumulator weighs 75 lbs. and gives one horse-power an hour. Using steam or water power to run a dynamo and generate electricity with which to charge the accumulator, is much cheaper than the burning of zinc in a battery, and efforts were soon made to use these accumulators in propelling cars. The Electric Power Storage Company built a tramway car in 1883, carrying forty-six passengers. It weighed complete, without passengers, 4 1/2 tons. The accumulators were placed under the inside seats. Fifty Faure-Sellon-Volckmar cells were used, each 11x13x7 inches, weighing 80 lbs., and capable of working the car seven hours. A Siemens dynamo under the car was connected with the accumulators by an insulated wire. A driving-belt transmitted the motion from the dynamo to the axle of the car wheels. In starting the car, electricity was taken from the accumulator to the dynamo by means of a movable switch. The power required could be increased or diminished by using a larger or smaller number of cells. Reckenzaun states that from actual practice with a set of cells in propelling a forty-six passenger tram car on an experimental line, the total weight of leads and oxides of lead was 1,590 pounds, and efficiency 71 per cent. The London Standard states that "Cars propelled by accumulators have been many times essayed, as in Paris and Brussels, but hitherto without approaching that practical success which is requisite for street locomotion, the excess in weight of the lead batteries and the comparatively small amount of power developed bringing these means to serious disadvantage. Accumulators have now been produced of much less weight and far greater power, and this result has been attained without sacrifice of durability.

The whole series of accumulators in the present car weighs only 1 1/4 tons, and the motor, gearing and accessories 1/2 ton; the total being 1 3/4 tons. The car weighs 2 1/2 tons, with a total, with forty-six passengers, of 5 1/2 tons. For the electric tramway, the cost of six cars, including the charging station, would give an average of £700 ($3,500)."

The electric railway at the linen bleaching works of Paul Duchesne Fournet, at Le Breuil-en-Auge, opened in 1882, and constructed by Clovis Dupuy, is operated by Reynier-Faure accumulators. The motor consists of a reversible Siemens machine, mounted on a car, with necessary mechanism, to which a tender is attached containing the accumulators. The road is 6,691 feet long, gauge, 31 1/2 inches; weight of locomotive, 2,057 pounds; tender, 1,540; and each loaded car, 1,760. The total weight of train is 14,080 pounds; and speed, 7 1/2 miles per hour.

The electric tram car of the French Electric Storage Company was first run in 1881. On June 24th, 1883, it made an experimental trip with thirty passengers, a distance of about 20 miles. The speed was 7 1/2 miles per hour, and the total weight of tram car was about 9 tons, including 80 accumulators of 66 pounds each. The electric power furnished equaled 7 1/2 horse-power during 2 1/2 hours.

In conclusion, your Committee consider the application of electricity to the propulsion of street cars as entirely feasible. The seven electric railways in Europe, besides the tests in this country, prove this to be true. It is now narrowed down simply to a question of dollars and cents, or comparative economy with horses, cable power, etc. In the crowded streets of the American cities, no system of overhead wires would be permitted by the municipal authorities. The rails could not be used to carry the currents for obvious reasons, therefore a conduit system offers the only practical solution. The system of running cars by accumulators can be applied with least trouble and less first cost, but at a great sacrifice of electricity. The result of two years' working of the electric railway at Zankerode, Prussia, showed that only 30 per cent. of the power of the steam engine was applicable to the propulsion of cars; but even this compares favorably with the cable system. Our worthy fellow-member, Mr. C. B. Holmes, President of the Chicago City Railway, stated at our last Convention (see page 150 of Proceedings): "The total amount of power required for ordinary operation is 477 horse-power. Of that it takes 389 to run the machinery and the cable." This equals 81 1/2 per cent., or 18 1/2 per cent. of useful power. An efficiency of 50 per cent. and over is claimed for recent improvements in electrical transmission. If this is realized the efficiency of the electric railway will be nearly 300 per cent. greater than the above cable railway. If the electricity be used to charge accumulators, there is said to be a further loss of 30 per cent., therefore your Committee does not favor the use of accumulators.

LETTER FROM THE BENTLEY-KNIGHT ELECTRIC RAILWAY COMPANY.

The following letter from the Bentley-Knight Electric Railway Company would go to show that capital in their hands considers the problem solved:

Office of The Bentley-Knight Electric Railway Co.,
No. 115 Broadway, New York, June 22, 1885

Augustine W. Wright, Esq., Supt., Track & Construction, North Chicago City Railway:

My dear Sir :- I desire to call the attention of the Committee of the American Street-Railway Association, on "Electricity as a Motive Power," to the system of the Bentley-Knight Electric Railway Company of this city.

This corporation is now ready, after long and exhaustive experimentation and trial, to take contracts for the construction, equipment and operation of electric tramways, and to furnish estimates of cost of construction and running expenses, upon demand. It is able and willing to equip any line fully, and to operate the same for any given time before asking compensation, and is willing to stipulate that, should its plant not give full satisfaction to the parties contracting, it will remove the same at its own cost.

For our system we claim every advantage and none of the disadvantages of horse flesh, steam or cable. We can guarantee economy, cleanliness, speed, perfect stopping and starting, and equal ease in running either forward or backward. If you are willing to look into the matter, we shall be more than happy to discuss the question with you, either personally or by mail; to answer any questions you may make and to furnish estimates upon any section of road, the particulars of which you will furnish us.

Very respectfully,
Robert W. Blackwell,
Secretary.


The Chairman of this Committee asked at the last Convention whether this was the same Mr. Bentley who reported "on a large scale electricity as a motor is only useful in transferring power to convenient localities, as when a machine which generates a current is driven by a distant waterfall, but the transmission of power into electricity, and then its re-translation from electricity into power, entails serious losses. That the electric motor must remain subordinate to steam, water, or original force until a new and cheaper source is discovered." It is the same Mr. Bentley, but he was instructed to continue his experiments, and the result has been the apparently successful solution of the problem to the entire satisfaction of the capital interested in the Bentley-Knight system. "Money talks," and any member of this Convention running a sufficient number of cars, can, according to the foregoing letter, thoroughly test "Electricity as a Motive Power," without money and without price, until convinced of its entire practicability and economy.

Respectfully submitted,
AUGUSTINE W. WRIGHT,
J. A. CHASE,
Committee.


Mr. Richardson, of Brooklyn: I would like to inquire whether Mr. Wright has had his attention called to the operation of the Daft motor in the city of Baltimore.

Mr. Wright: I was told they were operating with one motor, and Mr. Blackwell was in Chicago recently, and told me they were so well satisfied with it, that they had ordered another motor.

Mr. Littell, of Louisville, moved that the report be received and published.

Mr. Richardson, of Brooklyn: Is that a motion under which discussion is proper?

The President: The Chair understands that it means to discharge the Committee, and the report will then be in the hands of the Convention for discussion.

The motion of Mr. Littell was carried.



DISCUSSION ON ELECTRICITY AS A MOTIVE POWER.

The President: The next business will be the report of the Committee on Electricity, which is in order for discussion.

Mr. Kerper, of Cincinnati: A gentleman representing the East Cleveland road, on which the Bentley-Knight motor was tried, is present, and I would like to hear from him.

Mr. Johnson, of Cleveland: I make the same request. Mr. Herrick is a director in the road on which the Bentley-Knight system has been tried.

Mr. Herrick, of Cleveland: It is true, as stated in the report of the Committee, that the East Cleveland road has given some attention to this matter. We have had the Bentley-Knight system in use on the East Cleveland road for perhaps fifteen months, commencing in the early part of 1884, and terminating a few weeks ago. I am not an executive officer of the road, but I have several times looked over this device carefully. It has not proved such a success as to satisfy us that we can wisely adopt it. It answered the purpose at first, and the cars seemed to run very well. Without going largely into details, I can say this, that it seemed to be controlled well in starting and stopping; that there was not much difficulty in regard to that part of its work, but the speed could not be regulated very well. The owners had ample opportunity to correct and improve it, and do everything they saw fit. We wished to try it a year, Winter and Summer; and we had it there something over a year. They made every effort to improve it; and finally it has been given up without any further efforts in the line of improvement.

A delegate: How many cars did you run?

Mr. Herrick: Two or three.

A delegate: At a time?

Mr. Herrick: Yes; two or three at a time, and at different times during the day.

A delegate: What is the length of the road?

Mr. Herrick: A little over a mile was equipped with this device. It is true, and I should say, perhaps, for the gentlemen representing Bentley and Knight, that they found some fault with the road at this point, but before it was put on they looked over the whole road carefully and made no objection. They might have put it there or in a dozen other places on our road, but they selected this point, which was convenient to them and to us, and it was only recently, at the end of the trial, that they made any complaint in regard to the road.

A delegate: What kind of a track are you using?

Mr. Herrick: The ordinary flat rail of the Philadelphia pattern.

A delegate: Is it a straight track, or does it run with curves?

Mr. Herrick: There are probably two curves - right-angled curves - and it also crosses the railroad track. We have been very lenient, and have allowed the matter to go on, desiring to find out the power that would answer the purpose. At present we are not satisfied with it, but they may improve it. We used the same number of cars at the beginning that we did when we gave it up. We started with two or three cars, I have forgotten which, and the same number continued to the end of the trial.

Mr. Richardson, of Brooklyn: Are you able to estimate its expense?

Mr. Herrick: Hardly. We can do it, but have not the figures with us at present. We should have made such an estimate, if we had been satisfied with it. The location and arrangement of the power was not satisfactory to the owners where first placed, and then it was run from the Brush works. We can estimate quite accurately its expense, but we have not done it yet, the reason being that we are not quite satisfied with the system.

Mr. Richardson: Why did you stop the use of it?

Mr. Herrick: They could not at times run the cars quite fast enough. One day it would run perfectly, perhaps, and be controlled without any difficulty, and the next day they could not control it apparently. They could stop it and start it when they wished to, but the power to make it go with the speed we wanted, which was the ordinary speed of street cars, could not be obtained.

Mr. Richardson: What could not be controlled?

Mr. Herrick: The degree of speed that was required.

Mr. Richardson: Did the weather have anything to do with it?

Mr. Herrick: I think not. We tried it through hot weather and cold weather and in wet and dry weather, and we could not see that the weather had anything to do with that matter.

Mr. Richardson: Was it the want of speed or too much speed?

Mr. Herrick: The want of speed at times. Of course the speed was sufficient at times.

Mr. Richardson: Might not that be attributed to the engine that operated it, the power of the steam?

Mr. Herrick: Possibly it might, but I can only say that we changed it for them. We gave the Company themselves the opportunity to try it from their own works and they did it after a while, and that did not improve it. It was tried with our power also.

Mr. Richardson: What was the amount of power that you used?
Mr. Herrick: Thirty horse power.

Mr. Richardson: When you used one car did you get more speed than with two?

Mr. Herrick: I think we did.

Mr. White, of New York: Do you mean to say that the speed varied over the whole of the road or only over portions of it? When I went to Cleveland, I found the motor running part of the way on a road that was not as good as the other part.

Mr. Herrick: It applied as much to one part as another - the whole length; but as I said a short time since, it was unreliable. One day the speed would be good and another day it would not.

Mr. Richardson: Is it not true that those who had charge of the experiment brought in their electric motor at their own expense; controlled the conditions themselves, and did, so far as the road was concerned, just as they pleased and chose to do in making the experiment?

Mr. Herrick: That is substantially true. We aided them a little in some matters to start with. The heaviest grade they had to contend with on the line was a trifling one. I could describe it by saying it was such a grade as there is between here and the Planters' House on Fourth street; not over 18 inches to the 100 feet; not enough to interfere with the speed or materially affect the question of power.

Mr. Hazzard. of Brooklyn: Did they at any time find any fault with your track?

Mr. Herrick: They did, as I said a short time since. There was nothing said about it for a year.

Mr. Hazzard: Is there concrete in the centre of the street?

Mr. Herrick: Yes, sir.

Mr. Richardson, of Brooklyn: I wish to say something about this as the President of that road is not here. On my way to the lakes, in the early part of August, the vessel I was on stopped at Cleveland for several hours, so that I had an opportunity of seeing this motor. I first rode up to see it and was directed to the house of Dr. Everett, the President of the road, and called and saw him. I had felt very much interested in the question of electric power, and inquired of him what the circumstances were of its use there. As he described it to me, they felt well pleased with it for the short time they had had it in operation. I questioned him particularly as to the payability of the thing; as to whether it was in the cost of it an improvement over horse power, and he told me then very plainly that that was the main part of his doubt; that as to the ability to be operated satisfactorily he had no doubt, if the element of expense were left out of account. Up to that time they had failed to give him any evidence that satisfied him that it was a desirable thing to adopt it, on account of the cost of it. While he did not say that he was satisfied it was too costly, it was simply that he was not satisfied on the subject, and that was a matter that would be examined; but as to its operation as an experiment simply, he was well pleased up to that time.

Mr. Parsons, of Philadelphia: I had hoped at this Convention that we would be able to gather some data that was reliable, some positive facts relative to the operation of street-railways by electricity. I have been an interested visitor, and have examined into electric systems for the last two or three years. I was one of a party of gentlemen who visited Menlo Park to see the system in use there, and we rode there at the rate of thirty miles an hour. It was not pleasant riding at that rate for fear of being dumped off the track. If was a sixteen foot car that we rode in, and we felt as we approached the end of the circuit that the power decreased. Others as well as myself made inquiries as to the cost of it, and I am frank to say that we did not gather any valuable information as to its cost; and it could not be applied unless a third rail was used. Both rails were insulated, and could not be used in the streets of a large city. I have investigated the Bidwell system. The inventor said he had driven it at the rate of twelve miles an hour, and had perfect control of the speed at any point; could decrease and increase it. I asked him as to the effect of the weather, and he said the weather did have an effect, but the construction they were using was such as not to be affected by the weather, that the dampness would not affect it, and water could not get near it. I had my attention turned to the Cleveland experiment, and intended to go out there and examine that. I am very glad of the explanation given here by the gentlemen interested, because I do not know anything about electricity myself; and have come across very few railroad men who do. I believe that some motive power will be used beside horses, and it is fair to assume that it may be electricity. I had a party visit me a few months ago to make experiments on the track. They said they could divide the power and concentrate the power where they pleased, and do everything requisite and necessary to run a car, and I agreed to allow them the use of the track under certain conditions, which they did not comply with.

Mr. Richardson: What was the system?

Mr. Parsons: It was called the National Electrical System. It was not the Bidwell system. They claim that the Bidwell system can only run but one or two cars, while they claim with this they can run any number of cars and regulate the speed as well as with horses; that they only use the electricity that is necessary, and the remainder will be carried back to the starting place.

Mr. Richardson: That is claimed by Bidwell.

Mr. Parsons: That may be true. It may be possible that the time will come when some one will find out about this.

A delegate: They have been working twenty-five hundred years at it according to our friend this morning. [Laughter.]

Mr. Johnson, of Cleveland: I will describe the Cleveland experiment. I live there, but I am not interested in the Company. The road is a level road, almost perfectly so, and runs a mile or a little over. There are two curves in it. It is a part of the Garden street line that is not as much used as the main line, running from the stable to the suburbs. On this they run cars every fifteen minutes and the travel is not very heavy. It was on this place that they conducted the experiment. They built a conduit of wood covered with plate between the two rails, leaving an opening like the cable road. On each side of this they ran an insulated rail, probably half the size of either side of the conduit, and from the car there ran into the conduit a shoe that had friction surfaces that would bear on either rail, one of which was positive and the other negative. The power was operated by the engine that they used in cutting feed, and afterwards the Brush Electric Light Works turned on their immense engine and gave them all the power they wanted. I never saw them using but one car at a time. The car has near the centre a piece of machinery weighing a little over a ton, as Mr. Knight told me, which is composed of a great many delicate parts, belts, and cog gearing, carrying the power from the dynamo, which ran at the rate of 1,200 a minute, to the car, reducing it to the speed of the car.

Mr. Herrick: That was the first motor; the second was much simpler.

Mr. Johnson: It revolved rapidly, 1,200 revolutions a minute, and I asked what sort of a volcano it would make if it parted under the car; and was told that it would be terrible, that the pieces would travel two or three miles. It was a sort of nitro-glycerine magazine. I promised to give an unfavorable report of this. [Laughter.] I saw them run well two or three times, and I saw them fail with three or four passengers to get around a curve. I think that might have been some local trouble. The general arrangement of it was condemned by most of the people who saw it; and by the President of the road on account of the expense; although he told me at first, that he thought it would be a success.

Mr. Richardson: Why can we not get some data about the expense from you or some one after running it fifteen months?

Mr. Johnson: I never learned the cost of the car, nor the expense of operating it, being only a spectator. I could not find that out.

Mr. Richardson, of Brooklyn: I had almost forgotten, until reminded by the remarks of Mr. Parsons, that I was present at the experiment which he refers to as having taken place at Menlo Park, Mr. Edison's place, with the other gentlemen who were then present. The motive power was supplied by a very expensive establishment, so far as the steam engine is concerned, some of us thinking that it ought to furnish the power to move a hundred cars instead of only one; and the whole effect of that experiment on my mind was that it indicated far too great an expense for it to be considered in the light of a successful experiment to be applied to an ordinary city street railroad. The power was there and the car moved rapidly, but I think that, in the judgment of all present, there was nothing shown to us as to its practicality in the most important sense of that question: Will it pay? We all felt impressed with the idea that while it could be operated, as a great many other things can be, with the application of power, that it was done with far too great an expenditure of power, and at too great an expense connected with that expenditure, for it to be in any proper degree considered a success as an experiment. I have been very hopeful in the direction of the application of electricity to the running of street cars. I have thought that if it could be done successfully, it was probably the most acceptable kind of motive power that could be applied; that is, if it could be operated in such a way as to be perfectly safe with reference to the people and animals in the street coming in contact with it, so as not to be dangerous or offensive; and if, by the test, it was found it could be economically applied. I was much impressed with the offer of the Bentley-Knight Company, read to us to-day; because they certainly distinctly assume the risk on the question of whether they can make it successful, and all that that word implies, in its operation, when they say that they are willing to construct it, put it into operation and ask no pay for it until they make it a success and acceptable to those for whom they do the work. The latter, of course, is implied; that is, the fact that they can do it in the form and manner acceptable to those for whom they do it. Unless they do make it acceptable, they will not have the opportunity to do it at all. I asked the gentleman (Mr. Wright) if he could tell us about the Baltimore motor, and he did not seem to be able to. I feel it my duty to read to you a letter written by our Secretary, Mr. William J. Richardson, to T. C. Robbins, General Manager of the Baltimore Union Passenger Railway, and the reply of Mr. Robbins to the questions there asked. I have nothing to add to it; you can judge of it for yourselves, and make any further inquiries that your interest in the question may suggest to you.


LETTER FROM Mr. T. C. ROBBINS ON THE DAFT ELECTRIC SYSTEM.
Office Of
Atlantic Avenue R. R. Co.,
Brooklyn, October 1st, 1885.

"T. C. Rohbins, Esq., General Manager, Baltimore Union Pass. Railway:

"Dear Sir:- I understand that the Daft Electric System is in use on one of your lines of street-railroad.

Will you be kind enough to answer the following questions, inasmuch as this Company has been referred to you by the proprietors of the system, namely:
"How long have you had the motor in operation?

He answers:
"Since September 1st, 1885."

Which would be one month previous to the writing of the letter.

"On how many cars?" "With two motors. Have ordered two more. Each motor will haul two cars."
"The length of the road?" "Two miles."
"The cost of each motor?" "$2,000."
"The cost of each car per day to operate?" "The electric power necessary to run ordinary street cars can be furnished by use of steam to generate the electricity for one-half the cost of horse power, say, three per car a day. If electricity is generated by water power, for much less."

I understand him to mean at the cost of three horses per day. I judge him to mean that they are using six horses per day.

"The cost of plant and tunnel for track?" "Our conduit is above ground, and cost about $2,000 a mile. Plant cost about $12,000."
"Has the system been satisfactory to you in its general and special operation?" "Yes."
"Do you recommend it for adoption by this Company?" "I do not know what you expect to do with it. Would advise you to come over here and see how it works here and on Ninth avenue and form your own conclusions of its utility. I am well satisfied with it."

He then goes on to say:

"Two of the Daft Electric Motors are running on our two mile suburban road every half hour from six o'clock A. M. to eleven o'clock P. M., over grades varying from 0 to 353 feet to the mile" (that you will notice is 1 foot in 18), "and around curves, varying from 40 to 90-foot radius. The 353-foot grade is on a 70-foot radius curve, which is equal in resistance to a 476-foot grade on a straight line."

That would be at the rate of 1 foot in 11, if his statement is correct.

"Electricity under the Daft System is under as simple and complete control for hauling passenger cars, as it is for telegraphing, electric lighting and many other uses to which it is being applied. Some of the advantages of the electric motor over other power to the public are more speed, a consequent saving of time and less dirt, and consequent saving of health and clothing. While we have not had the motors in operation long enough to determine the percentage of cost, as compared to horse or mule power, I am satisfied that it will be in favor of electricity, especially on car lines of ten cars and upwards.

Respectfully,

T. C. ROBBINS."


Mr. Johnson: Does he say the conduit is constructed above ground?

Mr. Richardson: I will read what he says as to the question of cost:

"Our conduit is above ground, and cost about $2,000 a mile. Plant cost about $12,000."

The President: Is there any other gentleman who wishes to speak on the subject of electricity?

Mr. Herrick, of Cleveland: It has been stated in the discussion by several gentlemen that they were surprised that no one could give the figures of the expense of operating street cars by electricity, and it might be inferred that the East Cleveland road was in fault, because they did not. The question presents itself to us in this way : "Should we be required to present an accurate statement in dollars and cents of the cost of running a thing that will not run at all?" If it had been a success, we would have brought the figures. I do not wish to do the owners any injustice in this matter, for they may yet make it a success, and perhaps it is a success to-day, but it was not when we tried it.

The President: I will state that the parties are speaking of two different concerns. They are speaking of the Daft motor, and you are referring to the Bentley-Knight.

Mr. Longstreet, of Providence: I wish to say a word in reference to the statement that the Bentley-Knight Company are ready to adapt a road to their system and operate it, wherever they can get permission to do so. Mr. Knight and his assistants came to Providence and requested such permission, and obtained it for one line (an average of the whole), upon condition that the experiments should be wholly at their own expense. They afterwards declined to go on with the matter, and said to me frankly that they were perfectly satisfied, after looking at our system of tracks and service, that we could run cars by horse power in Providence with less expense than they could be run by electricity.

Mr. Johnson: What is the difference between your road and other roads?

Mr. Longstreet: I do not know, unless it be that we have many grades and curves, and very narrow streets. The average of our car service is ten minutes - the quickest service being five minutes, and the longest twenty minutes. We have grades of three to eight feet to the hundred. We have fifty-three miles of road, and offered to give them the use of a portion of it.

Mr. Richardson, of Brooklyn: You offered to give it to the Bentley-Knight Company?

Mr. Longstreet: Yes, sir; and they declined the offer three months ago. I have not the slightest confidence in electricity as a motive power.

The President: The Chair will take the liberty of stating that they came to me in Boston, and asked the privilege of using a mile, or half a mile of our track to develop their experiment. They do not call it experiment; they would not allow the word "experiment" to be used - they spoke of it as a certainty. I picked out a portion of the track, and they went to the City government to get the right to put a conduit there, and I have never seen them since. I know of no reason why the gentlemen should not come and put it down.


INCIDENTAL DISCUSSION RELATING TO CABLE POWER.

Mr. Windsor, of Chicago: Right in this line of thought, and in connection with what has been said, we have the evidence of Cyrus W. Field, who made a statement which was repeated to a friend of mine, which was this: "If you ask me if you can run cars by electricity, I will say yes, without a question of doubt. If you ask me if a car can run at twenty miles an hour when operated by electricity, I will say yes, without a question of doubt; but if you ask me whether it can be run as cheaply as by horses, I will say no, without a question of doubt." There is one thing that offers an objection to electricity, and that is, that it depends on the friction of the rail, and with a slippery rail you lose the power. With the cable system a slippery condition does not affect the power. In the cable system the power is separated from the track. The objection that has been made to the starting and stopping of trains when run by electricity, is overcome in the cable system. You can stop and start with ease, and obtain a speed of twelve miles in a few feet, and can bring a train to a stop in a few feet. While this is not the time for speaking in regard to cable roads, I would like to reply to the statement of Mr. Wright concerning the cable road, where he claims there is a loss of power in the cable system. He quotes the figures given last year, in which he states it requires 477 horse-power to operate the cable lines, 389 of which were used in the operation of the machinery and cables, leaving 88 horse-power for the operation of the cars. That 88 horse-power is about 1.11 horse-power per car. It costs a certain amount of money to buy a press, set the type and print a newspaper; and if you print but one copy, the price would be great, but if you print 100,000, the cost per copy would be vastly less. With our cable system we can carry four times the passengers we are carrying now, with but a slight increase of power and expense. While at the present time it requires a certain amount of power to move the machinery and cars we are using, if we put on more cars the extra power to move the cars and passengers would be very slight indeed, while the power required to move the machinery and cables would not be increased at all. I make this statement for fear there might be a misunderstanding with some in regard to this matter.

Mr. Wright, of Chicago: I have written a paper on horse-power, which I expect to read next Tuesday before the Western Society of Engineers. I have made some figures based on the statement of 88 horse-power propelling 240 cars, including the grips, and found it is 2.78 pounds per ton. There is not a steam railroad that runs in the United States on that, the usual allowance being six to eight pounds. From 150 tests made on the North Chicago road, our average is 15.6 pounds per ton when the car is in motion, and 116 pounds per ton to start the car. If the Convention cares for the figures, I will be glad to give them.

Mr. Johnson, of Cleveland: If you burn coal, how much is your daily consumption, and what does a 400 horse-power engine cost?

The President: The matter for discussion is electricity, and this is out of order.

DISCUSSION RELATING TO ELECTRICITY CONCLUDED.

Mr. Richardson, of Brooklyn: I wish to call attention to the fact of an experiment which is now being tried at Baltimore. It seems of sufficient importance to those whose attention is called that way to make further investigations. In that I am joined by some other gentlemen from New York and Brooklyn, and we intend to take the earliest opportunity of going there and seeing it for ourselves. We are impressed by the statement of the gentleman who says he has ordered two motors and is satisfied with the system. It is certainly entitled to merit some attention.

Mr. Hazzard, of Brooklyn: I will say in regard to the small road in Baltimore that I have had an invitation to visit Baltimore not only by the parties who are interested in this, but by Mr. Baker, the President of the Baltimore Car Wheel Company. I have had some conversations with him in regard to this, and he is favorably impressed with it. The only electric car that I have seen is on a small road in Greenville below Jersey City. It was the Daft system, and they had a short road about one-eighth of a mile long on a curve, and it was stated it had a grade of thirty-five feet to the mile. There was nothing to see except the two rails to carry the electricity, and I could take hold, and did take hold of both rails with my hands at the same time when the car was running on it, and it did not affect me any more than taking hold of a chair. They controlled the motor well. They had two cars on the track, and they would run back and forth, and you would think they were coming together and would break everything to pieces, but they would stop them at once. I saw this myself. What amount of expense it took to run the cars I cannot say, because the engine was running other machinery in a factory at the same time.

[Lock]

For their Fifth annual meeting, October 20-21, 1886 in Cincinnati, Ohio, membership reached 140 street-railroads...

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PROGRESS OF ELECTRIC MOTIVE POWER.

The Secretary read the following report:

The American Street-railway Association,

Mr. President and Gentlemen: Your Committee on the Progress of Electricity as a Motive Power, respectfully report as follows:

History Of Electric Locomotion.

In searching for the first experimentor in the field of electric locomotion,it very soon becomes apparent that extreme difficulty will be experienced, due to the great number of visionary experimentors who seem to be attracted to this branch of physics.

Jacobi's Electro-Motor.

Though the experiment of Jacobi on the river Neva in 1834, certainly demonstrated the possibility of producing a not inconsiderable force by electrical means, a casual inquiry as to the cost of the experiment conclusively proved that very little hope remained of its application assuming a commercial form, so long as chemical decomposition was the only recognized means of exciting electricity. It remained, however, for later scientific investigators to point out that this was not due so much to the inefficiency of the producer, as the exceeding crudity of the receiving apparatus and the necessary high cost of the electric fuel, so to speak, which in this case, as in many subsequent cases, was zinc. In view of the really discouraging character of this experiment, regarded as even a possible commercial achievement, it is surprising that any inventor could have been found sufficiently bold to make any other attempts until radical changes had been made in the producing force; but history records that a number of other daring experimentors attempted to supplant the steam locomotive within the next decade. It is not, however, recorded that a sufficiently hopeful result was obtained at this period, to be regarded as anything more than an interesting scientific display.

Page's Electro-motor.

The intervening experiments were hardly worthy of record until the year 1860, when Professor Page made the first recorded experiment of any note, with batteries having carbon plates in place of the inferior copper ones formerly employed. It is recorded that by means of his improved apparatus, Professor Page was enabled to drive a car load of passengers through the streets of Washington with an electric locomotive, traveling at the rate of twenty miles an hour. Though it is quite possible the speed is here exaggerated, and that the car load of passengers was propelled only on the level, which would not necessarily call for a powerful effort, it is still noticeable that such an achievement was possible simply by the use of batteries and the imperfect apparatus of that time, in a manner sufficiently satisfactory to have attracted a number of business men, who for some time anticipated great results.


Siemens And Halske's Electro-motor.

It is now evident that nothing of a commercial nature could possibly have followed with the means at command, and though a number of more or less successful experiments of a similar kind were made, nothing of sufficient importance to even promise a commercial result occurred until the year 1879, when Messrs. Siemens and Halske, of Berlin, operated a small electric railroad of about one-third of a mile in length at the Berlin Exhibition, employing an auxiliary conductor between the rails, from which the current was taken up by means of a metal brush and transferred to the motor in the now well-known manner. Several more of these small locomotives, being rated at one or two horse-power, were made during the years 1879 and 1880, and it is recorded that with this apparatus the current was sufficiently powerful to throw horses down when accidentally placed in contact with the third rail. These later experiments partook of a much closer approximation to a commercial character, for the simple reason that during the interval between Professor Page's test and that of Messrs. Siemens and Halske, the greatest advance yet recorded in electric motors had taken place, namely, the introduction of the mechanical producer or dynamo machine, which, apart from the details involved, rendered possible the substitution of coal for zinc as a fuel. That the energy of the former had now to be passed through a steam engine was a comparatively unimportant detail, considering the enormous disproportion between the energy produced from coal and zinc, from a financial standpoint, and though the inefficiency of the engine as a thermo-dynamic motor militated strongly against the complete triumph of this new order of things, the extraordinary efficiency of the infant dynamo operated in a great measure to place the new power on a commercial basis. Indeed, so wonderfully efficient were even the earlier dynamos manufactured by Messrs. Siemens, that the first recorded results proved indisputably that under such favorable conditions as those of which Messrs. Siemens were able to avail themselves, competition with horse-flesh seemed possible even from the first, though it was a daring man who in those times would even hint at competition with steam and other well-known convenors. The little machines above noted were so satisfactory in their operation, that they were quickly followed by an electric railway for actual business traffic, which was constructed by Messrs. Siemens and Halske between Hichterfelde and the Military College, Berlin. The electric motor or car on this road was built so as to closely resemble the ordinary European tramcar, and the motor was attached under the floor. It is recorded that the performance of this car was eminently satisfactory in dry weather, but that considerable difficulty was experienced in operating in wet weather, until several changes had been made in the manner of conducting the current, it being subsequently found necessary to use an overhead conductor, which is the first recorded example of this kind, and appeared to be so successful that the road has continued running without any radical changes up to this time. It must, however, be remembered that the power required was very small, since the road is entirely level from end to end, and the car was limited in size, being only able to carry about twenty five persons when fully loaded.


Edison's Electro-motor.

Passing over a number of minor experiments, which followed this achievement of Siemens on the other side, the first notable example after that of Prof. Page's in this country, appears to be the electric locomotive of Thomas A. Edison in the Summer of 1882, which is said to have attained a speed of nearly forty miles per hour on a level track at Menlo Park, New Jersey. The experiments were conducted for a considerable time, but did not appear to have been of a character sufficiently encouraging to warrant any attempt in a commercial way, and no machines of this type were ever placed on a commercial road. The manner of taking up the current was similar to what had before been tested by Siemens in Berlin, and afterwards abandoned, as not affording sufficient insulation in wet weather.

Daft's Electro-Motor.

Later in the year 1882, Leo Daft constructed a number of small electric locomotives, which were tested and run for a considerable time on a track provided at the works of the Daft Electric Light Company at Greenville, New Jersey. This is the first recorded example of a number of locomotives (there were four employed at one time), running on the same track at the same time, from the same generating apparatus; and a number of experiments were conducted from time to time for the satisfaction of a large number of visitors, among whom were many electrical aud engineering experts, to prove what was then a matter of considerable doubt, that locomotives could be run in "parallel" from a producer of sufficient capacity. This was so completely demonstrated at that time, that in this direction no further doubts existed, though it seemed to be for a long time the standing objection to the progress of this new enterprise from those who were less familiar with the true inwardness of the problem. On these occasions, the four cars were purposely manipulated in the most difficult manner, being all started at the same time as nearly as possible, and all the evolutions which a most exacting audience demanded, without at any time showing the least reason to doubt that the system was capable of indefinite extension on the same lines. Not the least extraordinary of the effects, which constant experiment developed, was the remarkable tractive capacity of the motors when operated with insulated wheels, and using both rails as the conductive system. It was clearly shown that a small locomotive, weighing but 450 lbs., was capable of developing the extraordinary tractive force of 300 lbs. on a dry rail. This was repeatedly demonstrated; and the subsequent experiments with the same apparatus developed the astonishing fact that it was capable of ascending a gradient of 2,900 feet per mile without any extra tractive appliances whatever, and with a driver weighing upwards of 150 lbs. to add on the car. It will thus be seen that an effect was arrived at, contrary to anything which may be evolved from the co-efficients of Molesworth. There have been many opinions as to the cause of this, but the fact remains that the above achievement was repeated day after day before a large number of technical persons, and can, of course, be repeated at any time, though it is not possible to reproduce this effect on the large scale required by commercial practice, for reasons which cannot form a part of this paper. The increased traction under favorable conditions is not by any means an unimportant feature in considering the relative weight and energy of a given motor. In the Fall of 1882 an experiment was made at the Chicago National Exhibition of Railway Appliances with a motor, consisting of a Weston machine placed upon a platform car and driven by a second Weston machine, by means of two copper conductors placed near the track. This car traveled on a circular track under cover without any gradients, and, as might have been expected, created a very favorable impression among the spectators, though it would not be classed as a commercial performance, since the energy required was comparatively insignificant. It served, however, to keep up the public interest in matters of that kind, and was so far successful.

Van Depoele's Electro-motor.

In February of the following year, it is recorded that a motor weighing 300 pounds, constructed by Charles J. Van Depoele, was put in operation at the works of his Company, and operated a car which is stated to have been capable of carrying twenty-five people, and the trials were conducted for several days, and are said to have met with perfect success.


Daft's Electro-motor.

In the following year a number of experiments were carried out at the Daft Company's factory at Greenville, New Jersey, with a view to demonstrating the possibility of electric locomotion on a much larger scale, and in May, 1883, an electric locomotive, afterward called "Ampere," was begun for an experiment on the Saratoga and Mount McGregor Railroad - a narrow-gauge road running from Saratoga, about ten miles, to Mount McGregor. Some time was occupied in experiment prior to the construction of this machine, but in the Fall of the same year (1883) the locomotive was finally finished and forwarded to Saratoga, where a number of experiments were made on a part of the track, which had been furnished with a third rail to the distance of about a mile and a quarter from the depot, the dynamo machines being situated about midway and a few hundred feet from the track. In this case a third rail was used, supported on blocks of wood, saturated with rosin. Experiments revealed the fact that with the low potential employed, the insulation was sufficient for a practical experiment, even when a considerable portion of the tracks was covered with snow. The main achievement of this was that it towed a car weighing over ten tons, loaded with sixty-eight passengers, over the road, including a gradient of 93 feet per mile. Though several difficulties were here experienced, due to the comparative crudeness and temporary character of the local arrangements, sufficient was accomplished to prove the possibility of commercial electric traction, and since it was the first example of electric locomotion on an ordinary steam railroad, it attracted considerable attention, and encouraged others to proceed in the same direction.

Miscellaneous Electro-motors.

It is noticeable that about this time a number of experiments were recorded with what are now known as accumulators, on the other side of the water, and a number of more or less successful experiments were made, which only served to develop the fact that accumulators were then, as they are now, susceptible of great improvement.

The extraordinary impetus which had been given by the introduction of the dynamo machine was reinforced by the comparative success of the experiment just noted, so that within the next few months a large number of electricians and others found themselves sufficiently encouraged to construct a great variety of electric apparatus for the complete extinction of horses and steam. As you are, doubtless, aware, the greater part of these have been entirely unproductive, but the most notable cases have not only survived, but are now being prosecuted with a vigor and success which naturally results from their having assumed a thoroughly commercial character. In the year 1884, a combination of important capitalists was effected under the title of the American Electric Railway Company, with a view to placing everything of this kind on a sufficiently strong commercial basis to insure its adoption; but as some difficulty was experienced in securing concerted action, nothing of importance has yet resulted from this combination, the inventors, as before, pursuing their different ways alone. Here, perhaps, it may be as well to state that electric locomotion alone had not by any means absorbed the attention of inventors. The question of transmission of power for stationary purposes having appeared to present an even more attractive field, much had been accomplished in this direction, and practical results attained by such distinguished inventors as M. Marcel Deprez, Messrs. Siemens and Halske, of Germany, and Sir William Siemens of England, together with Messrs. Ayreton and Perry, and others of lesser note. Notable among the achievements of the French inventor was the transfer of nearly forty horsepower for a distance of several miles by means of an ordinary telegraph wire.

In this country, though workers in this direction have apparently been less numerous, the results have generally assumed a more important character regarded as a commercial achievement. The first recorded example of the establishment of a central station exclusively for the distribution of power, is that of the Massachusetts Electric Power Company, which was placed in May, 1884, and has since grown to considerable proportions. This Company uses the Daft system. Several others similarly equipped have since been put in operation with entirely satisfactory results, but which my paper will not allow me to describe. There are, however, a large number of stationary motors in operation in different parts of the country, though not, so far as I know, worked from stations exclusively for power. Among the motors so employed may be mentioned the Sprague, Van Depoele, Edgerton, Baxter, D'hiel, and a host of others, which may fairly be said to be too numerous to be mentioned, though, with one or two exceptions, these inventors have devoted themselves to matters of very small power, especially for use in operating sewing machines, dental instruments, etc.


Knight And Bentley's Electro-motor.

In August, 1885, Messrs. Knight and Bentley operated a small road in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, with subterranean conductor, and which may be said to be the first serious attempt with that form of conduit yet made in this country. The experiment extended over a considerable period, and is described as being quite successful, though for some reason, of which I am not informed, the plan was not adopted and the experiments have been discontinued, though these gentlemen are still doing good work in Providence, R. I., and are, I trust, preparing themselves for a brilliant future. It will be unnecessary for me to remind you that a plan of this kind must ultimately be adopted in many of our larger cities, particularly since the beginning of the overhead wire crusade.


Van Depoele's Electro-motor.

In the year 1885, C. J. Van Depoele constructed and operated a locomotive which is said to have done excellent work at the Toronto Exhibition, in the Fall of that year; and this has been followed up from time to time by notable work and experiments in different parts of the country, chiefly among which may be mentioned Montgomery, Ala., and South Bend, Ind. This inventor, after the manner of the early German road, has adopted an overhead conductor, which seems specially suited for use in cities, where the necessary permits can be obtained, and appears to have met with such success, as to promise greater things in the future.

Baltimore And Hampden Electric Railroad.

Passing over some minor achievements, I am led to speak of the installation of the Baltimore and Hampden Electric Railroad as the one commercial plant which has been operated for a sufficient period to allow of a proper statistical comparison, not only with horses but with other mechanical tractors, and in so doing, I append figures showing results of operating this road for twelve months by the Daft system, including a Winter of extraordinary severity for that region, and under such conditions as I am sure you will conceive are sufficiently commercial in their character. A profile of the gradients and curves on this road (see page 84) will be a sufficient assurance that the experimental element has not been allowed to predominate in selecting the ground for such purpose, except in a manner sufficiently prejudicial to afford unusually severe means for satisfying ourselves as to its enduring character. The statistics here appended will afford so clear an insight into the result of this experience, that I will not further dwell upon it except to remark that, though I must confess myself strongly in favor of so convenient and sufficient a substitute for horses, or other mechanical tractor so far tested, I have not allowed myself to be led astray by the scientific allurements of the case, and feel satisfied that a careful analysis of it will lead others to conclude as I do, that electricity employed as the means of transferring the energy of mechanical tractors is not only coming, but is here, and in all essential particulars, has been here for some time past. It is not too much to add that the Baltimore and Hampden Road stands alone in this particular; that it was started on a purely commercial basis, as a purely commercial transaction, and has continued, and is now being extended, simply because it has proved its right to stay by the performance which leaves little to be desired in that direction.

About the time that the Baltimore road was started, the Daft Company were engaged upon the manufacture of a large electric motor, "Ben Franklin," intended for use for experiment on the Ninth Avenue Elevated Railroad, New York. This was subsequently put in operation and experimentally used for a considerable time on a short track at Fourteenth street, and also towed four cars over two miles of that road. It was ascertained during these experiments that a more powerful motor would be required to fully meet the requirements of the case, and the experiments will shortly be resumed on a larger basis.

Lieut. F. J. Sprague has since built and put in operation a motive car on a short branch of the Third Avenue Elevated Railroad at 34th street. The experiments with this motor have not yet been concluded, but I understand that they have been quite successful, and will, probably, result in an extended application of this motor.

In concluding this brief review of this comprehensive subject, I feel that I should not be doing it full justice if I were not to attempt a refutation of many charges, which have been brought against electricity by persons unfamiliar with its peculiarities. It was said to be unsafe, and though with high potential this is, undoubtedly, the case, I am prepared to say that with the potential now in use on the Baltimore and Hampden Railroad, the experience by a year's constant running of eighteen hours per diem, leads me to state that, so far as human life is concerned, it is absolutely harmless. Secondly: It has been said to be uncertain. Again quoting the experience of a year, I am able to state that after the little difficulties incidental to a primary installation had been removed during the first month or two, it is as certain as any other form of mechanical tractor in all weather. Third: It has been stated that specially skilled help would be required to operate a line so equipped. I am again able to say that the experience before referred to has enabled me to place upon the road men who were entirely unfamiliar with electricity in any of its applications, and that these men are now our sole reliance for all the operations required; and interruptions are as much the exception with us now as with any ordinary road.

For the year ending September 1st, 1885, the road carried with three cars, propelled with horses, 227,155 passengers, at 5 cents each, making $11,357.75.

For the year ending September 1st, 1886, the road carried with two cars, propelled by the Daft Electric Motor, 311,141 passengers, at 5 cents each, making $15,557.05

An increase of 83,986 passengers with two cars propelled by electricity, as against three cars propelled by horse power for the same corresponding time, and an increase of money of $4,199.30.

The average number of passengers carried per car per annum propelled by electric power was 155,570.

The average number of passengers carried per car per annum for corresponding time by horse-power was 75,718; an excess of passengers per car per annum in favor of electric power of 79,852.

The average gross earnings per car per annum, with cars propelled by electric power, was $7,778.52; the average gross earnings per car per annum by horsepower was $3,785.91, showing an excess of gross earnings per car per annum in favor of electric power of $3,892.61.

The average cost of horse-power per car per day is estimated at $6.50; the average cost of electric power per day on this road is one and a half tons of coal at $3.50 equal to $5.25; engineer, $2; fireman, $1.50; oil and waste, 50 cts.; interest on plant and repairs, $2.75, making $12 per day. The power furnished at this cost is ample to run three motors and cars on this road, making electric power per car per day $4. Under more favorable conditions, such as cheaper fuel or water power to drive the dynamos, and more favorable gradients and curves, the cost of electric power per car per day would be proportionately reduced.

Respectfully submitted,

T. C. ROBBINS,
Chairman.


DISCUSSION ENSUING ON ELECTRIC MOTIVE POWER.

The President: Gentlemen, the paper is now before the house for general discussion.

Mr. Kerper, of Cincinnati: Mr. Gest is here from Baltimore, and he will be very much pleased to answer any questions that may be put to him by anyone wanting to know about electric motive power.

Mr. Wharton: I would say that I have had the pleasure of riding over the Baltimore and Hampden Railway Company's railroad, and I should be very much interested in a discussion of the success of the enterprise, and should be glad if Mr. Gest were invited to give us his views upon the subject.

Mr. Moxham, of Cleveland: I think in this question of electricity as a motive power, we have something before us in which many details are involved. There is in particular one question upon the subject that has been much in my mind. Electricity, constantly recurring in the shape of street-railway discoveries, has been in existence for many years. It seems as though it has lived, however, in the shape of experiments, and though these have been without number, and prosecuted with tireless energy, they have never seemed to have borne practical fruit. We have heard to-day in the very able report that has been read to us that they have done this, that and the other; but in truth they have done nothing that has not been done years ago. The use of electricity was developed to a successful extent (as far as the mere running of a car upon a track goes), in Europe, almost a generation ago.

There has been no question among mechanics and engineers that electricity will do this thing - that it will move a car which has been properly constructed for the use of this force as a motive power, and it may even be true that it is capable of as perfect adjustment of speed as is the case with other motive powers; but in spite of all that has been said and done; in spite of the experiments that have been made, and the claims that have been made in behalf of this new motive power, the fact remains that in its adaptation for street-railway purposes, it has not grown.

I think that this failure is not to be explained by minor defects in details; that the cause lies deeply rooted somewhere and in some other direction, there can be no doubt; and I would like a discussion brought about bearing on it. My own feeling is that it is brought about by non-adaptability. We have just heard of the Baltimore experiment that certainly appears to have been successful, and I think that that success demonstrates that in suburban districts it is useful. What is needed by the street-railroad world is something more than that. We need something which will dispense altogether with the use of horses - not only in the suburbs, but in the crowded part of the city. To do this the motive power which we choose must be as good as, or better than, the horses on every occasion, not on some. The construction used in the Baltimore road is one that is hardly adapted for use in a large city. It will not meet the municipal requirements, and I think it is a question whether the system can be so changed, as to extend its usefulness to the extent that it may replace horses everywhere, even in the hearts of our large cities.

Last year our friend, Mr. Richards, of Boston (or the year before last, I have forgotten now which it was), spoke to us about electricity. He drew for us an impressive picture. His language was so eloquent that for the moment I began to doubt that we were among street-railway men, and almost thought that we had joined the Lotus Club. [Laughter.]

He spoke of electricity as an infant, and he drew a beautiful picture of the future of that infant when it had reached a giant's strength. I believe Mr. Richards was genuine in his enthusiasm; I think he was bona fide in his expressions of admiration, for it was pretty early in the day. [Laughter.] But I don't like the comparison. I think that electricity is a pretty tough old maiden by this time. [Laughter.] I hope that the cause - the reason why she has not reached that giant strength that Mr. Richards has foretold, is one that a thorough discussion of the subject may bring to light.

Mr. Wharton: I should like to reply to the observation as to "the old maid," as the gentleman has called electricity. In my opinion, great progress has been made, and immense strides have been taken, which give us assurance of complete success in the future, and a future that is not very far removed from the present. I wished to look at the railway in Baltimore as a practical man from a practical standpoint. I went to look at it merely as a street-railroad man, and not as an expert, and I must say that I was entirely surprised at the good results obtained from a crude plan and a bad railroad; for when I saw it, it was in a very bad condition and in a crude shape, and that is just what I wanted to see, for if the thing will work in such a condition, it will work better where everything is in first-rate order. I did not see a large machine shop, and a large force of mechanics, some repairing, and others to keep the thing in running order. Everything was quiet and on a very small scale. The steam engine was a very poor one in my opinion. They told me at the shop that it was sixty-five horse-power, but I think it could not have been more than thirty-five or forty. I wanted to see how much coal was burned, and how much work was done. I had previously, two or three years ago, been to Menlo Park to see what Edison had done in that line. They had a great stationary steam engine of apparently two hundred horse-power. I asked them there how much power of the steam engine was required to run their one car. No one seemed to know anything about that, or if they did, they would not tell. The total result of that experiment was an immense steam engine and one small car in operation. The car went very fast and seemed to do the work, but it certainly was not satisfactory to me in regard to the expenditure of power that had to be made to attain the result; but when I went to Baltimore, I saw a small stationary engine and a poor track, and I saw what electricity can be made to do even under those circumstances. I was surprised. They were running three motors up grades, some of which were three hundred feet to the mile, over hills and valleys that were apparently terrific. They went around a curve of forty feet radius on a part of the road where the grade was two hundred and fifty feet to the mile; they did it without any difficulty, and that is a severe trial upon any motor. They could stop on that curve, and then start up and leave it without any trouble. Without wishing to claim that it is a perfect success as yet, by any means, I still have great faith in its ultimate success; and I have hope that before a very great while, it will be in practical use upon street-railways.

The only objection - that is, the greatest in my opinion, in regard to the use of continuous conductors of electricity, is that overhead conductors are very objectionable in cities, and would not be allowed by the municipal authorities. The overhead conductor is the one that is best adapted to the purpose, because it is cheaper in its construction and is easily got at, and anything that happens to be out of order can be seen at once and repaired or replaced. It is, of course, a great objection to have to abandon the overhead conductors. Then if we come to the underground system, that is running the electric conductor through an underground conduit, which is smaller and simpler than that in use with the cable traction motor, we have the same trouble to contend with that we meet in the cable system. The cost is quite considerable, the conductor is out of sight and is much more liable to get out of order, and it is very objectionable in many other respects.

There is another method of using electricity that is claiming attention now, and that is the use of accumulators. If that can be done, if that can be accomplished, it certainly will be attended with grand results. It goes right ahead of conductors and wires and cables, for with them, if anything gets out of order, the whole business must stop until it is repaired. The use of electric accumulators will approach more nearly the use of horses than anything else that has yet been devised, for every car will be entirely independent and on a different and separate basis; for if one gets out of order, you can at once discard that and continue the use of the others, and substitute another for the disabled one, without losing a moment's time for the general business of the road. I saw last Monday a representative of a company which has brought over from Europe a new kind of electric motor, and he told me that in a week they would be ready to place on the street-railroads of New York an electric motor whose battery had been charged in England. They were getting everything ready, and expected that within a week they would have one running upon the Broadway Railroad in the City of New York.

I am looking forward to this experiment with great interest; and I do not think it is proper for any gentleman belonging to this Association to depreciate any movement which has for its ultimate object an improvement. Let us welcome them all, and if they are successes, let us be glad of it. I hope that this car in New York will be running in a very short time, and that it will be a success. It has the same kind of battery as was used on the Steamer "Volta," which was lately sent from England to France and back again. The machinery worked well and was perfectly noiseless, and when they got back pretty near the coast, they went at their highest rate of speed into the harbor, and had still some power left. The steamer occupied about eight hours and a half in going and returning. [Applause ]

Mr. Moxham, of Cleveland: I want to ask one or two questions. I am a seeker of information in this electric field. I am not here to depreciate it or run it down. With the gentleman who has just spoken, I should be glad to see it succeed. Mr. Wharton mentioned among the advantages of the electric motor over other kinds of motors, that it is not like the cable system or like some other systems, entirely dependent upon one machine. This may all be very true, but I think that this is purely a question of reliability. We might conceive of such a thing as every one of the storage batteries giving way all at one time, and I think that it may be possible to so develop cable machinery that this is as likely to happen as that the one machine upon which depends the cable system will give way. There is nothing very wonderful in the fact that these storage batteries have been brought over to this country from the other side. The electricity is put into them at one time and remains there till taken out; that is all there is in it. Coal is brought over to us from Newcastle in ship loads. It does not injure it, and we burn it after we get it here; but what I want is some street-railroad information, and I would like to ask Mr. Wharton three questions: I should like to ask him first of all, whether on the Baltimore and Hampden Electric Road a "T" rail was used, or the ordinary stringer rail? That is to say, whether the rail was above the street surface, or whether it was on a level with it. I would like to ask whether on the curve the outer rail was elevated; and I would also like to ask him whether, in his judgment, if this same railroad which he has described, instead of being in the suburbs, were to be built in the city, where the rails must be level with the surface, and will be most of the time covered with dirt or snow and ice - whether, in his judgment, the friction between the wheels and the rails will be sufficient to manipulate a fully loaded street car?

Mr. Wharton: In the first place, I shall reply to the observation made by the gentleman who has just asked me three questions: First, the observation that all the storage batteries might give out at one and the same time, and that thus every thing would collapse, just as when in the cable system the cable breaks or the engine gives out. Now that is just about as likely to happen as that all the shoes on the horses of a great street car line would come loose at one and the same time. I cannot possibly imagine how they could all give out at one time, because they are charged separately, and if need be, extra ones might be charged and always kept on hand. In regard to the matter of charging these batteries, the only reason that I quoted what was told me by the agent as to their having been charged in England and brought over to this country; I say the only reason that I mentioned the fact at all, as to their having been charged in England three weeks before they were to be used, was because I wanted to show that the loss or leakage, which is inevitable, is still not an insuperable objection. There is, undoubtedly, a loss or leakage, but I wanted to show that this loss or this leakage was so small that the loss, which would occur during a few hours after the battery had been freshly charged, would be infinitesimal. Of course, the stationary steam engine would keep charging the batteries successively, and it would not be necessary to pay any more attention to them than simply the taking out of the cars those whose force had been expended, and replacing them by batteries that had been newly charged.

Of course, there would always remain in the storage batteries a certain amount of electric energy not directly available, like a reserve of water in a reservoir, that don't show. We do not take out all the water; we want to leave a certain amount in, which is not practically applicable to the purposes for which we intend the water, but is, nevertheless, good as a nucleus, and is by no means lost.

In regard to the snow, ice and mud interfering, I am not here to advocate anybody's system at all, but I am here to advocate the principle of using electricity as a motive power, without regard to any particular system that may have been invented.

The cable system has many advantages over the old horse-power, but I say, give all new inventions a fair chance, and, if necessary, give them more than a fair chance. Let us help them along all we possibly can. Do not let us discourage people, even if some of them are humbugs. Though I was not in Baltimore during such weather as would cover the tracks with mud or snow, yet, I know Mr. Robbins to be a perfectly faithful and reliable man, and he is very moderate in his statements. I have known him personally for twenty-five years, and he told me that they had not the least bit of trouble during the rains or storms, when the tracks would be covered with water, and that they had not the least particle of trouble during the Winter when the snow was on the ground. In fact, that they never had had any trouble that was practically of any account. I say I believe this, because he told me so himself, and because I know him to be a perfectly honorable and reliable man.

In regard to the current being strong or objectionable, I saw him take hold of one of the rails, and put one hand on that rail and one hand on the conductor or middle rail. He asked me to do it, but I did not feel called upon to make any experiments, and said that his doing so was just as satisfactory to me as if I had done it myself [Laughter and applause].

It apparently did not have any effect upon him at all, but he did make this remark, that there had been made some very careful experiments with horses and other animals, and that it had been found to be a fact that there was a much greater resistance to electricity in some animals than in others; that horses were much more easily affected by electricity than men, and that horses were in some cases thrown down and killed by a current that would not kill a man by any means. It was a new thing to me, for I had been wondering why it was that they were so very careful to guard the middle rail at the crossing of every street. I don't believe, in reply to Mr. Moxham's inquiry, that as shown in the operation of the Baltimore and Hampden Electric Railway, the Daft System of electric motors, is at all applicable to use in cities; but that it is of value and at present of practical service in outlying districts, I fully believe. I am so certain, in fact, of the ultimate success of electricity, that I have made application lately to lay down a gravity railroad in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, upon which the cars would be propelled by electric power up grade to the summit. Whether the grant will be given me I do not know, but if it is, I will try and see what electricity can do. Whether I shall adopt the Daft System or the storage batteries, I do not yet know, but I intend to try electricity and to find out for myself whether it is the right kind of thing or not for that purpose. The system of continuous conductors must be modified certainly in a great measure, before it can be used in cities where there are vehicles of every kind to interfere, and where the use of overhead conductors would be objectionable; but I have the greatest hope, and an earnest desire, that the method of using storage batteries will be available and practicable. Of course, I may be disappointed in the result, but even if I am, why I have been disappointed often before and can stand it, but it is my sincere belief that this infant electricity will in time grow up to be a very Hercules. [Applause.]

Mr. Richards: It seems to me, Mr. President, after listening to this report, which has been read to the Convention, and hearing the remarks that have followed, that it would be well for the Convention to come down to that practical standpoint for which we are assembled; to endeavor to look at this matter in that plain, common sense, and I may say, simple manner, that a scientific subject when presented to us for consideration, and involved as it has been here, leaves us only in the end our simple common sense examination of it as practical men. The difficulty as it presents itself to my mind as to the consideration of this question is this, that we are called upon for any understanding that we may endeavor to gain on this subject; that we are called upon to investigate and understand, if possible, one of the sciences. We find in the report, and a very intelligent report, made undoubtedly, by some eminent mind who understands the subject, that since Jacobi in 1834 first produced certain results up to the present time, glancing over the field very rapidly, he finally alights from his flight and fixes himself upon a railroad in Baltimore, and says (and all that he has said upon that subject has been reinforced by Mr. Wharton), that success has at last been found. Now, Mr. Chairman, it seems to me that we will go a little deeper than that ourselves. Underlying every thought or every wish in the minds of us all, there is but one idea: Have we found in this electricity, will we find elsewhere in anything else, a substitute for our present motive power? If we are called upon to go back to the day when Franklin tied his door key upon a kite and sent it aloft to the heavens and called down a power existing there which he then knew nothing about, and which no man to-day can name or give a title to; if from that day until now scientists all over the world have been engaged upon this problem, and as the railroad branch of it, we assemble here to-day to see what there is in it for us, we yet find this difficulty: that in order to understand it, to make it practicable, to bring it into that common use which we desire, we seem to be obliged ourselves to investigate the whole realm of that science; and yet, after all that, we stand aghast and say nothing!

We go, as we have been invited, to look at the cable road. We can bring such intelligence to our aid that we can look at it and feel of it, and behold it, and go back to the power-house and see the motor, and that it is steam. We will find that any cable built two years ago is old-fashioned to-day, and I am as eager in my research here to find what kind of a cable I want as I ever have been, but I am met by the thousand and one plans of this inventor and that, until I am lost in bewilderment. I had one of the most delightful visits to my friend, Mr. Holmes, of Chicago, and while I was there I was carried through a machine shop, which was so vast that I thought it must embrace all the machinery in Chicago. Everything was described and explained to me, and I bowed my head and tried to look as grave and as wise as I could, and felt that I didn't understand one single word about it. [Laughter.] I rode on a car full of people, attended by the sweet music of that jingling bell, and I thought that then I was on a cable road well constructed and well operated, and that someone was making some money [laughter]; but when you are called upon to investigate one of the sciences, when you are told that in England, where the Rothschilds have spent millions of dollars investigating the storage battery system; that they have come now to this country through Mr. Vail, the former President of the Bell Telephone Company, who writes to you and says he will be ready in a few days to put into your cars four little packages containing electricity, and that these little packages will run your car for five hours, and that they can be delivered to you as you may want them, just as the milkman, or coalman, or butcher delivers your provisions and fuel every morning, what is there to say? Well, again, I ask him, "What is in the boxes?" "I don't know." Who does know? "Are you going to have a factory for making these little packages?" "Yes, but you can fill them yourself." "What have you got to do?" "Well, you must get a dynamo and a steam engine, and build a building and make your own electricity and put it into these receivers, if you prefer, or we will sell it to you." Gentlemen, is not this a subject which seems beyond us, and was I not repeating to you a fact one year ago when I told you, in speaking of electricity as the coming power, that this infant child was born and was being led on day by day, and when one man dropped the child's hand, another took it up and led it on still further; and can I not see with my visionary eye the youth now fast going on to manhood - that youth who is going to be the giant of the future? Let us then, gentlemen, stand with our heads bowed down, and feel that we are in a presence that we know nothing of, because it is beyond our comprehension; and I say that the fool who would undertake to tell his neighbor that there is an end in these things might as well deny the attributes of his God.

When I am far away from home, and there is a member of my family who is there at home and whose voice is dear to me, and many miles intervene, and I can go to an instrument and hear and receive the true tones of that voice, is it for me; is it for me, Mr. Chairman, to question that? Is it for me to say, "That is not the best kind of a telephone, because it is not made right," and pull it down and tear it to pieces? Why do I not do it to my watch? Or, while here, I am anxious to hear from the interests that I represent, I speak to a telegraph operator, and for twenty-five cents can send my communication over the thousands of miles, and in an incredibly short time can get the information that I want; is it for me to inquire into that science by which all this was accomplished? No! If I should go to Baltimore, as I wish to do and shall, and stand there and look at that experiment that has been tried there and spoken of here; I ask you what I really know when I have examined it. Nothing of practical value to me. I might exhaust every library, read every book upon the subject; I might go and stand at the side, or sit at the feet of these investigators or inventors, but the trouble is that I am the president of a horse railroad, and have no time for it. [Laughter.] I want to know what is practicable, and what I can have, and what I want. I say, then, gentlemen, stand in awe of this thing, and, let it come when it will, be ready to receive it when it does come; but your attacks upon it are like a set of infants when they want to investigate the stars. Wait. Let it come, and then understand it, and then adopt it if you want it. Pardon me, gentlemen, for thus taking up your time and wandering, perhaps, from the discussion. I listened carefully to this report, and it ends with telling us that there is an electric railroad in Baltimore, that is, as far as we can see, a complete success. Welcome that fact! All honor to Mr. Robbins, for I do honor him. It does not interfere with cables or anything else, but the unfortunate part for us is that we must go and investigate and see for ourselves if we can put our money into this thing or not. Gentlemen, we don't make our horses. We buy them already made, and use them for the purpose of drawing our cars; but for us to sit here and talk about dynamos, and the different poles, and different kinds of batteries, and zinc and copper - why, we might as well talk so much nonsense, and I think that if there is one good quality present in this Convention, it is that we are common sense men and take a common sense view of whatever happens to be before us for our consideration. [Applause.]

Mr. Holmes, of Chicago: I have no hope whatever of saying anything better or half so good as has been said by our friend from Boston, but we, as a Convention, are gathered here from all parts of this country, and should extend a warm greeting to every man who in any way strives to help us in our work. [Applause.] There is no man in this room, or on this continent, who is more intensely interested than I am in the subject before us. Was I a consummate fool, after walking my room for a whole night debating the question, I advised our Company to expend three or four millions of dollars in the cable system? Was I a fool when, after five years' experience with that system, I, this season, advised and committed that Company to a further investment of $2,000,000 in extending that system? I think not, and have not one particle of regret for the action; but having done what I have, I should go home and die of a broken heart if I did not believe that, in the ages to come, there would be found a power for moving the people infinitely superior to anything our eyes have seen or our ears have heard. I know not what it may be. It may be electricity, or it may not be. I know not whence it will come, out of the air, or earth or sea, but this I do know, that there is an almighty Creator of the universe, and the resources of His power are unlimited, and in time He will unfold to His children what shall be for their good. Therefore, I say, let us give a cordial welcome to every thinking and inquiring mind, who may be honestly searching for the good and valuable; for when it comes your time to settle the question what power you shall adopt on your lines; when you have to pass through this ordeal, as I did; when you come to sweat drops of blood over the trying question, you will be grateful for any and all the light and help that earth or heaven can furnish. [Applause.]

Mr. Moxham: I will wait, sir.

A delegate: Have we not now this power? There is no objection to it whatever except from the City Councils and the municipal authorities. Wherever they have tried it with the late improvements, it has been a success.

[Lock]

Sixth annual meeting... October 19 and 20, 1887, The Continental Hotel, Philadelphia, PA. Membership now 153.

Pretty cool to see Frank Julian Sprague aka the "Father of Electric Traction" in attendance and invited to speak...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_J._Sprague

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ELECTRICITY AS A MOTIVE POWER.

Mr. Wharton read the report, as follows:

The American Street-railway Association,

Gentlemen:- Since the last annual meeting of this Association, the subject of using electricity as a substitute for horse power on street-railways has received much attention, and great advances have been made in the practical application of it to that purpose, so that it may now be stated broadly there is no longer any doubt or uncertainty that electricity can be successfully and economically employed in a great many places, if not in most places, as a substitute for animal power. Quite a number of electric railways are in operation in the United States, running satisfactorily under all the requirements of public service, so that there is much greater familiarity with, and a more general knowledge of, electricity among railroad men and the public than ever before. There is so much confidence in the practicability of electrical propulsion of cars being well established, that the subject is no longer treated with doubt or disdain; on the contrary, great interest and respectful attention are at once manifested whenever the subject is brought up. Although some parties, interested, perhaps, in pushing forward their own special inventions, may claim too much, the actual facts as presented daily in the regular work of the cars are good enough to warrant this belief and confidence. Electricity in its manifestations, applications and capabilities, has been hitherto a subject the knowledge of which has been confined mainly to scientific circles, but it is evident that the time has come when it will be put in harness in place of the horse to draw cars, and to perform many other duties which a few years ago would have been considered entirely chimerical and visionary. So long as the oxidation of metals or other chemical action was the only available method by which electricity could be produced, the expense attendant upon such means limited its use to a very narrow sphere. Since, however, steam power and water power have been so successfully employed to generate electricity, and to do it so cheaply, the range of its usefulness and application has been wonderfully enlarged, from year to year. It is not intended in this paper to make use of scientific terms, or to discuss the question from any standpoint, but that of practical observation and experience; nor is it intended that any comparisons shall be drawn between electric motors and steam locomotives; but there is a wide field for work in which neither the locomotive nor the horse is able satisfactorily to accomplish the duty called for.

The systems at present in use for electrical propulsion of cars are divided into two classes.

First - That in which the electricity is conducted from one or more active generating sources along a suitable conductor or conductors to be used in the cars with proper return connections; and secondly, that system in which the electrical power is obtained from accumulators or secondary batteries carried along with or within the body of the car. Of the first there are several methods, viz:

That in which the electricity is carried along a conductor above the ground, considerably above the car, either directly over it or towards one side.

That in which the electrical conductor is situated at the side of the railroad and elevated a few feet only above the ground.

That in which the electricity is carried upon the surface, either by a third rail, or other conductor, running on the level of the ground or pavement.

That in which the electricity is carried beneath the surface by a conductor placed within a suitable conduit for its protection, access being had to said conductor through a slot in the top of the conduit, so as to allow of electrical connection with the motor on the car.

The plans of having the conductor along the surface, or at the side of the railroad not much above the surface, have so many evident and practical disadvantages that they need not be taken into consideration in this paper; therefore the question is reduced to the three methods of overhead conduction, underground conduction and storage batteries.

It is evident that better service must be furnished at the same cost, the same service furnished at a cheaper rate, or that both objects combined shall be attained by the use of electricity, before it takes the place claimed for it. The writer believes fully that the last proposition of both better and cheaper service has already been proved by actual service and daily use, but in the nature of things improvements upon the present methods will be discovered, and "the survival of the fittest," which applies as well to mechanical appliances as to animated life, will by its inexorable laws weed out and discard those which are deficient or incompetent. There are so many intelligent, persevering and scientific minds engaged in active experiments and researches into the mysteries of Nature's powers, and more especially those relating to electricity, that discoveries are constantly being made, human knowledge in this age extending more rapidly than at any previous time. The subject is fascinating and the prizes sought after are brilliant and valuable. The increased cheapness in production of electricity, which may fairly be assumed for the future, will, of course, add to the advantages, and enlarge the scope of its use. At present there are many places where electricity can be generated at a nominal cost by the use of water power, and this energy can be carried a number of miles without any loss or leakage of practical consequence. Where this can be done, of course the parties have special advantages. So also there are many towns and cities in coal regions, or natural gas regions, where the same result of cheapness in production can be obtained, although by different means. As a case in point, it may be mentioned that the electrical railway in Scranton, Penn. has its power station located about midway of the route, and immediately at the foot of a large hill or great mass of hundreds of thousands of tons of culm, which is principally composed of the small, fine particles of coal produced in mining, or left after the screening and preparation of the commercial sizes of coal for the market. This has been accumulating for many years, is still accumulating, and has hitherto been considered only an inevitable nuisance, which the mining proprietors would gladly have given away for nothing to get rid of, and not have it occupy their land. The price which the railroad company pays for this culm is but ten cents per ton, and as it only has to be wheeled through the door of the engine house, the whole distance from the culm hill to the furnace under the boilers not being over fifty feet, and as the whole consumption per day is on the average but five tons, or in money value but fifty cents per day, it is evident that the cost of electricity in this case is exceedingly small indeed, that sum being sufficient for the fuel to produce the steam power which generates electricity enough to run four and sometimes five cars, carrying at times seventy-five passengers each, over a railroad track about four and a half miles in length, having long grades, a number of which are five or six feet to the hundred, and the steepest of which is seven and a quarter feet per hundred. The tractive power required upon some of these grades is still further increased by curves or switches occurring upon them. It may be well to mention some other points about this railroad in Scranton, which has been running about one year, with great success, and exhibits in many respects a favorable example of an electrical railway with overhead conductors. The cars have four wheels; two of them are open cars, each carrying one motor of twenty horse power. The motor is placed in the body of the car midway of its length, and all four of the wheels are driving-wheels, the connections between the motor and the wheel axles being made by means of chains and sprocket wheels. Three of the cars are closed cars, each with one motor of fifteen horse power, which is placed on a closed platform at the forward end of the car. In these the forward wheels only are driving-wheels, and their connection with the motor is made in the same way as on the open cars, with chains and sprocket wheels. The Company will shortly place four more cars upon the line, each with a motor of twenty-five horse power. These larger cars are intended not only to propel themselves, but to be able each to haul in addition two other cars loaded with passengers up all the grades. The running time of the round trip on the main line, being in all eight miles, is one hour, which includes all stoppages and the waiting at each end of the route, so that the average speed attained is more than eight miles per hour. There is no difficulty in going much faster; in fact the men in control of the cars have to be watched to prevent their running at excessively high speed, particularly on the return trip to the city, where the grades allow the car to be run for the most of the distance by gravity alone. At the generating station there are two stationary engines of 100 horse power each, two dynamos of 100 horse power each, and four boilers of 100 horse power each. Only one engine and dynamo, however, and two of the boilers, are in use at one time. The railway company expects also to furnish in the future electricity for the lighting of the town of Dunmore, situated at one end of the line, by which the income of the Company will be materially increased. The duplicate engine and dynamo and the duplicate set of two boilers, are for the purpose of providing against contingencies of accident to those in use, and also to allow of alternations in service, thus giving opportunities of frequent examination and inspection. Upon this railway, as before stated, the overhead system of conduction is employed, having flexible connection between the motor on the car and the carrier traversing the conductor, which is a solid copper wire of five-sixteenths of an inch diameter, suspended on a part of the route from transverse wires attached to wooden poles placed on both sides of the street, about one hundred feet apart lineally, about twenty feet high, and about six inches in diameter at the surface of the ground, and on the rest of the line suspended from arms projecting sideways from wooden poles at the side of the railway, about twenty feet above the ground. The line is a single track railroad, with several turnouts or passing places, at which points the electric overhead conductor branches off over the side track also; and an ingenious system is in use by which the carrier, running upon the overhead wire, with two grooved wheels of about two and a half inches diameter, automatically shifts the connections at the points of divergence from the main line, so that the carrier always follows that one of the overhead conductors which is above the track upon which the car is traveling. It is contemplated, however, to use two separate and independent overhead conducting wires throughout the whole length of the route, so as to avoid the possibility of any difficulty with the carriers at the points of intersection at the turnouts, although this has not happened often. The return current of electricity is taken by the rails. The electrical current has a tension of about six hundred volts, which, while sufficient to give a shock, could not produce any dangerous effect on man in case the current should by any means be diverted. Part of the road is laid with tram rails and the rest with T rails, and a part is paved and the rest unpaved, so that these different conditions in connection with the many grades and the curves and turnouts, give ample opportunity to thoroughly test the working of the system. Although the overhead wires in this case do not present any more unsightly appearance than the numerous telegraph cables and wires to which we are so accustomed, it is, however, evident that the use of the overhead system will be prohibited in most cities and towns, especially since the general determination to place all electrical wires in cities underground. The noise of the carriers running on the conductors is not much, although it can be readily noticed, but the noise produced by the motors and the chain and sprocket connections is quite considerable. This latter could be entirely avoided by the use of a noiseless motor and a better method of connection, of which motors and connections there are several kinds easily obtainable. Noiseless, efficient and durable electric motors suitable for use on cars can be had in which the weight per horse power does not exceed sixty pounds.

In a paper of the length to which this must necessarily be limited, it will be impossible to do much more than treat of the subject in a general manner, but it can be stated specifically and certainly that electric railways with overhead conduction have demonstrated beyond a doubt their capability to propel a few cars, even if heavily loaded, at less cost and much greater speed than could be obtainable on railways operated by horse-power. This is true in places where the coal required must be bought at usual rates, and the exceptional advantage of fuel at merely nominal cost does not exist as at Scranton, and likewise at Wilkes-Barre, where an electrical railway is under construction, upon which the cost of coal used will not exceed sixty or seventy cents per day for five cars.

In the case of electrical railways with underground conduction, the effort has been made to give all the advantages of the overhead system, and at the same time remove the objection which in most places is absolutely prohibitive of having the conductors and poles or other supports obstructing the streets. In doing this, however, great difficulties arise, some of them of a very serious character. The costly conduit with the needful arrangements for drainage and for cleaning out, together with the increased care necessary to provide against the considerable loss or leakage of electricity, which, nevertheless, generally takes place in spite of all precautions, detract greatly from the apparent advantages of the plan. Many inventions have been patented, and numberless devices contrived to overcome the many objections of this method, but there is great room for doubt whether practical success has yet been obtained.

Neither by overhead nor underground conduction have more than a few cars as yet been moved simultaneously upon railways, although many ingenious arrangements are offered by various parties, who confidently assert they can run any required number of cars. This, however, yet remains to be proved. Both plans also are open to another serious objection in the entire stoppage of travel on the whole line in case of breakage or derangement of any part of the conducting apparatus or the generating machinery. In this respect they are under the same disability that the cable system of car traction is hampered with. Possibly by suitable arrangements of duplicate engines, boilers and dynamos, duplicate conductors, and auxiliary, sectional, or relay systems of conduction, this disability, threatening as it appears to be, may be so reduced as to be of no great detriment. This, however, also remains to be demonstrated. Taken altogether, underground conduction does not compare favorably with overhead conduction up to this time. One great trouble with the latter plan, however, is that although it can be used to great advantage and economy on lines running a few cars in towns, or in suburban districts outlying large cities, it will probably never be allowed by the municipal authorities in large cities, which, of course, are the very places where the advantages of electrical propulsion are needed the most. To move a large number of cars, as for instance upon the Third avenue or Broadway lines in New York city, the electrical conductor, whether overhead or underground, must be of great size if the current is of low tension; while on the other hand, if a small or moderate sized conductor be used, the current must then be of dangerously high tension, and, of course, it would then be very difficult to avoid great loss of electricity from leakage.

There remains to be considered the accumulator or secondary battery system. In this each car carries its own supply of energy, and is entirely independent of any method of continuous electrical conduction. No change of track or roadway is required, nor any costly conduit or unsightly poles or other supports, while the cars can run anywhere that a car can be taken by horses. These points are of immense advantage, and are the chief merits advanced by its advocates, independent of its economy over horse power.

In practice, cars of the size of the usual two-horse cars are provided with about 80 accumulators, weighing when filled with fluid and ready for use about 40 pounds each. These cells are placed under the seats, one-half being on each side of the car. Their combined weight is 3,200 pounds, and the weight of two motors each of 5 horse power should not, together with their connections to the car axles, exceed 800 pounds, so that the additional weight imposed upon the car is, say 4,200 pounds, which allows 200 pounds for the apparatus to control the current and for other electrical appliances. This added weight if placed upon a four-wheel car may be of disadvantage to the car or to the track. If this should be the case, the difficulty is removed by the use of eight wheels on two swinging trucks, which support the car much better, and distribute the weight upon the track. Both these kinds of storage battery cars are in service with entire success. The charging of the cells is done by a dynamo driven by steam power or any other desirable means, and it takes four hours to charge cells which are able to perform four hours'work. To remove from the car the cells which have done their work and to replace them by freshly charged cells, takes no more time than the time required to change horses. It requires 10 horse power exerted for four hours to charge the batteries or cells of each car, so that 40 horse power hours are needed to accomplish it.

The cost of running large stationary steam engines of say 200 to 400 horse power constructed with the modern improved cut-off appliances and other economical devices, has been found, after extensive investigations, not to exceed two-thirds of one cent per horse power hour.

This allowance is a liberal one, and is above rather than below the actual average cost, including fuel at average market prices, attendance, repairs to engine and boilers, oil, etc. We will, however, take it at one cent per horse power hour. Forty horse power hours at 1 cent cost 40 cents, which is the cost of four hours' car service, and as the day's work of a car should be taken as 16 hours we have as the whole cost of a day's supply of electricity four times 40 cents, or $1.60. Since four teams of two horses are required to draw a car for 16 hours, and as one additional horse per car is the usual allowance for sick or disabled horses, 9 horses per car are needed for a day's work, which at 50 cents per horse for feed, bedding, attendance, shoeing, etc., is $4.50, as against $1.60 for the storage battery electricity. Making extraordinary allowance for possible errors in this comparison, the difference is still astonishing to those who have not looked into the matter critically. With motors properly constructed a speed of eight or nine miles per hour is readily accomplished, in fact eight miles per hour may be taken as the speed at which such motors will work to the best advantage and return the greatest percentage of mechanical efficiency. As the requirements of street car service demand variable rates of speed, as for instance, in crowded streets, behind other vehicles, or in turning curves and entering switches, it is necessary to go slowly and cautiously, and the weight of the load carried at different times will vary from an almost empty car to one overloaded. These conditions, together with increased power needed to ascend grades and to start loaded cars, especially on up grades, call for electric motors which will under such greatly varying circumstances respond at all times almost equally well.

There are motors which, while engaged in performing an equable work and running at an equable speed, for both of which purposes the motor was specially made, will return 90 or possibly 95 per cent. of efficiency, while the same motor, when run at some different speed or under some different load, may return but 30 or 35 per cent., so that the average performance of such motors in street car service would probably give only 50 per cent. return of efficiency. Motors can, however, be obtained which will, under all the variations of street car work, constantly return 75 per cent. of efficiency.

The durability of storage batteries is a point which those interested in other systems are very prone to doubt, but it has been proved in actual use in cars that they will continue in good serviceable condition for eighteen months or two years. Makers of these batteries offer to guarantee them good for two years of street car service. The lead lined wooden containing boxes will last for many years; the negative plates are good for more than two years; while the positive plates are certainly good for eighteen months, if not more.

The plates being of lead and lead oxide are still of value when they become unserviceable, for the metal can be recast into new plates, and the lead can be recovered from the oxide. The first cost of storage battery cars and the engine and dynamos is at present prices considerably more than the first cost of cars provided with suitable complement of horses and harness; but when the saving in first cost obtained by dispensing with the ground and the stables required for horses is taken into account, the balance will in many cases be in favor of storage battery cars. This is, of course, applicable more particularly to large cities where ground is very valuable. By methods now being introduced into the manufacture of storage batteries, their production will shortly be made at a reduced cost, and their durability increased at the same time.

It should be remembered that the increased speed at which electric cars can travel is so much greater than horses could draw them, that two cars can readily do the work of three horse cars, especially as the electric cars require no time for resting at the ends of the route; but although they can easily do this, so much increase of speed would not be allowed or be practicable through the streets of most cities or towns. It could be done with safety and advantage through wide streets or avenues and in suburban districts. It will, however, be perfectly safe to say that three electric cars can do the work of four horse cars, and if desired they can at the same time be of greater capacity than horse cars, for while the horses can do no more, no such difficulty exists with electricity. Without referring to the excessive first cost required for the expensive cable traction system, and comparing the first cost of the entire plant and equipment needed for a storage battery electric railway, on which three cars will perform the service of four horse cars, with the first cost of the entire plant and equipment of a railway using horse power, it will be found that the advantage will in most cases be in favor of storage electricity. Let us now compare the operating expenses:


Running expenses of four two-horse cars for one year, to wit:

Conductors, 365 days, at $3.00 each car
per day of 16 hours.....................................$4,380.00
Drivers,........"................. 2.50...."............... 3,650.00
36 horses,......".......... 50 cents each
......................................................per day 6,570.00

...............................................................$14,600.00

One year's deterioration and repair
of four cars at $200 each.................................. 800.00

...........".....of 36 horses, at $40 each.............. 1,440.00

.................................................................$16,840.00


Running expenses of three storage battery cars for one year, to wit:

Conductors, 365 days, at $3.00 each car
per day of 16 hours.......................................$3,285 00
Drivers,................"......... 2.50....".................. 2,737.50
Electricity,............."......... 2.00...."............./.... 2,190.00
....................................................................$8,212.50

One year's deterioration and repair
of three cars, including dynamos, storage
batteries and motors, at $1,600 each................ 4,800.00
.................................................................$13,012.50


This leaves a balance to the credit of the storage battery cars of $3,827.50.

The fact of each storage battery car carrying within itself its own energy gives to the individual cars an independence of action, which neither the cable traction plan, nor the overhead or underground system of electrical propulsion possesses, for all of these depend upon central sources of power, which may at any time be interrupted, so that breakage or accident to any part involves the stoppage of the whole line.

In a sanitary and cleanly point of view, the withdrawal of the car horses from our streets would be of great benefit, and this would be accomplished without having, as in the case of the cable railway, an open drain, which, although supposed to be kept clean, in fact nearly always contains a deposit of street refuse to a greater or less extent.

The leakage of electricity in storage batteries, charged but not in use, need not be taken into account for any length of time that cars would probably stand idle. In fact the leakage from batteries in good condition would not exceed ten per cent. in three months.

The percentage of mechanical energy given by the steam engine which is recovered in actual work under the variable conditions of street car service on the driving axles, with storage battery cars properly equipped, is at least forty per cent., and with electricity by direct conduction at least fifty per cent. In cable traction, after deducting the power needed to move the cable and to revolve the wheels guiding and carrying the cable, not over twenty-five per cent, is left for drawing the cars, and on some cable railways even less.

The increased speed so easily and advantageously obtained on electric railways, as a class, not only enables three cars to do the work of at least four horse cars, and effect the great annual saving shown above, but it has a tendency to invite travel and thereby increase receipts, also to give street-railways the opportunity to extend their lines advantageously further into outlying districts, and to compete on better terms with elevated roads and steam railroads than would be possible with horse power.

The rapid deterioration and destruction of street car horses shows the exacting and terrible nature of their work, although it is for only four hours per day. Their powers are already overtaxed, and they can do nothing more either in speed or in load carried.

Electric cars by dispensing with horses allow more room in the streets for other vehicles, and this advantage in crowded streets is of moment. Take for instance Washington street, Boston, or Broadway, New York, and it will be readily seen that this relief to the clogged traffic would be great.

Electric cars can go backward or forward with equal facility; they are under perfect control, can stop and start more quickly than horse cars, and in case of delay can make up lost time. They never get sick with epizooty or other disease, and during strikes or other periods of enforced idleness, do not require to be fed. On down grades they will run by gravity without the expenditure of other force, and on level or nearly level stretches, a very little electric energy continues their motion when once they are started.

The electricity, beside running the motors, will supply the car with incandescent electric lights, actuate an electric signal gong, and operate electric bells for the use of the conductor and passengers in stopping or starting the car. It is usual to have the regular hand brake for stopping the cars, but the motors can be instantly reversed by electricity, if desired. This method, however, should only be employed when it is necessary to stop the car very quickly to avoid accident or for some other imperative reason. By this means the car can be stopped in much less distance than is possible by the hand brake, which of course operates with the same efficiency whether upon electric cars or horse cars.

It has been questioned whether in Winter, when the tracks are liable to be obstructed with snow or ice, the electric cars will be able to propel themselves, owing to the fact that they obtain their power of propulsion from the adhesion of the wheels upon the rails, so that if the wheels are prevented from reaching the track, there would be a great liability of their slipping and turning around without giving any forward motion to the car itself. In answer to this, it may be stated that during last Winter on the electric railway in Scranton, having the overhead conduction system, and from experiments made in Philadelphia with a storage battery car, it was found that there was no unusual difficulty presented in snow storms, the wheels owing to the added weight, settling more readily through the snow and thus reaching the rails. Upon roads properly equipped with snow plows, or snow sweepers with revolving brushes, propelled by powerful electric motors, the clearing of snow from the tracks would no doubt be much more efficient than horse power could effect. Street car electric motors of 50 H. P., or more if required, can be as easily made and are as easily controlled as motors of 5 or 10 H. P., so that electricity has ample ability to keep the tracks clear from accumulations of snow. As with locomotives, sand boxes should be placed upon electric cars, so that if any slipping of the wheels should be observed, either from the greasy, slippery condition of the track, sometimes seen in damp weather when the streets are not properly cleaned, or from snow or ice upon the track, the driver, by opening a suitable valve, can let out a little sand upon the rail and at once overcome the difficulty.

It is sometimes asked why two motors of 5 H. P. each should be needed upon a car usually drawn by two horses. In explanation of this, it may be stated that a car horse can, and very often does, exert for a short time in starting a car or upon steep grades, a force of 5 or even more horse power. A mechanical horse power is the measure of the moderate duty which a horse can constantly and regularly exert day after day in a regular day's work without injury, but car horses are constantly temporarily called upon to exert unusual and unreasonable power, which is the reason they are so rapidly destroyed in street car service. It is evident, therefore, that the electric motors must be able, when called upon, to exert the same power that the horses under pressure can be made to perform temporarily, so that a maximum of 5 horse power in each of the two motors will develop only such force as the requirements of street car service are constantly demanding during short periods of time.

It is not intended in this report to indicate that cable railways for use on steep hills or high grades will be superseded by electric railways, for the latter are limited to such grades as the adhesion of their wheels upon the rails will enable them to surmount, just as in the case of the steam locomotive, so that there is a suitable and proper sphere of usefulness for cable railways in the many places for which they are particularly adapted.

It has been proposed to increase the tractive power of electric cars upon inclines by causing magnetic attraction to be developed between the wheels and the rails, and also by the use of other devices. All these methods present complications which, probably, will more than outweigh the advantages sought to be attained.

In developing the best construction and management of electric cars and railways, careful attention to details, some of which at first sight may appear trivial, should be exercised, in order to obtain the best results, no matter which of the three plans be adopted. It should, however, be said that in practice at the present time, the running of electric cars requires no more intelligence or skill than the running of horse cars, and also that the electric current with continuous conduction on lines using a few cars, need not be of such tension as to endanger human life, 500 volts being sufficient. With the storage battery system, the tension of the current is so low, 160 volts being sufficient, that no shock whatever could be experienced by a man offering to take through his body the whole current required to propel the car, as the resistance of the human body is too great for a current of that tension to pass. This has been repeatedly done, some of the people stating they felt nothing at all, and the others no more than a slight tingling sensation.

The term "storage batteries" so generally in use, is apt to give a wrong impression, no electricity whatever being stored or contained within them, for in charging the batteries a chemical action is forced to take place, and when this chemical action is allowed to reverse itself, electricity is generated thereby. The car motor immediately uses this, and when the motor is stopped, the chemical action, and, therefore, the generation of electricity ceases.

In this report care has been taken not to refer by name to any patented inventions, or to recommend any particular make of electrical appliances. As to these matters, those proposing to use electricity, whether by overhead or underground conduction, or by storage batteries, should, of course, be careful to select such methods as are the most reliable, efficient and durable, and to deal with parties not only responsible as to the validity of their patents, but capable of doing what they undertake to perform.

Any one who peruses the railway journals and notices the number of electric railways now in operation, and the still greater number of those in course of actual construction or projected, has cause for surprise if he has not closely been following the course of events.

That electricity by some of the present methods of its use, or by better ones yet to be invented, will entirely supersede the use of horses and cable traction upon all street-railways, excepting under the special conditions for which cable traction is occasionaly applicable, is a question that admits of very little doubt.

WM. WHARTON, Jr.,
Committee.


DISCUSSION ENSUING ON ELECTRICITY AS A MOTIVE POWER.

The President: I want to state to you that the paper just read by Mr. Wharton will be printed in full in the Annual Report. The paper is open for any suggestion, or argument, or discussion that may be proper. Mr. Wharton is at my side and will be glad to answer any question that you may wish to ask him.

Mr. Frayser, of Memphis: I did not exactly understand whether the motor is put on with the usual mechanism, and how much room it will take up, and how heavy it is.

Mr. Wharton: As stated in this paper, the extra weight carried in an electric car is thirty-two hundred pounds of storage batteries. We allow eight hundred pounds for two motors, and two hundred pounds for other electrical appliances; that makes four thousand two hundred pounds. The cells are placed under the seats, and are consequently entirely out of the way.

Mr. Clark, of Cincinnati: I would like to inquire what these operating expenses are made of; I think you had either $1,400 or $1,600.

Mr. Wharton: You mean the deterioration?

Mr. Clark: Yes; I understand you put it in the operating expenses.

Mr. Wharton: The deterioration of the storage batteries and dynamos and motors, and the deterioration of the car itself (two hundred dollars per year, as in the case of horse cars), as nearly as I can make it, is sixteen hundred dollars per year per car.

Mr. Clark: You think that all the deterioration would be covered by sixteen hundred dollars?

Mr. Wharton: I have, in every instance, so far as my judgment would allow me to do it, put everything rather to the disadvantage of the electric cars. I believe that my statements are all understatements, so far as any credit is given to the storage batteries; in other words, I have put the year's deterioration and repair of three cars, including dynamos, storage batteries and motors at sixteen hundred dollars each, amounting to forty-eight hundred dollars, which, I believe, from observation and experience, is overstated and will not be so much; but as to dividing it and telling you exactly how much belongs to the motor; how much to the batteries, and how much to each particular wheel of the whole appliance, I cannot tell you that. I am giving you, as the result of my best judgment, that the sum total is within the amount stated.

Mr. Winfield Smith, of Milwaukee: I would like to inquire what is the estimated price of coal to be used for the generation of electricity. There is a very great difference between the price of coal in my part of the country and the price of coal in Philadelphia, and I do not know what the increase of fuel expenses might be.

Mr. Wharton: In regard to that, I would say, of course, in treating of the subject in the general way in which these matters must be treated, I cannot take the various prices at which coal is sold in every city throughout the country. I have to take what I suppose to be a fair average. In Scranton, where you can get it at ten cents a ton, the case would be quite different from another place where, possibly, you would have to pay ten dollars a ton. I have to take a general average. I take Philadelphia, New York or Boston, and use for my estimate the average price there of coal of the inferior character, which is good enough for our boilers; because if they can burn culm at the mines, they can certainly use it anywhere else. In fact they are now beginning to transport that culm, hitherto considered a nuisance and valueless, but which, by the way, consists for the greater part of the very best particles of coal, the softer and finer and better particles broken off in the course of preparation and mining. They are beginning to use it quite extensively in places removed fifty or a hundred miles from the culm deposit. It could be used just as well two hundred miles or more away, although the cost would, of course, be increased by reason of the extra transportation. I have assumed that the price of coal, of the character indicated, in New York, Philadelphia or Boston, ought not to exceed three dollars, or three dollars and a half per ton.

Mr. Clark: While I cannot give much information as to the storage battery system (to the development of which so much attention is being given), I have looked somewhat into the subject of the overhead system. I do not know of any practical underground system, as yet. In Montgomery, Alabama, they are operating fourteen miles of road and ten cars by electricity on the overhead system. They run this plant with two engines of seventy-five horse power each, capable of running up to a hundred horse power, and use a ton and a half of coal a day in operating. In Lima, Ohio, they are operating five cars with seven barrels of oil a day, at thirty cents a barrel. If I am rightly informed, oil at sixty and a half cents a barrel is equivalent to coal at two dollars and a half per ton. In Mansfield, Ohio, they are operating a road by electricity. Both in Mansfield and Lima they are taking eight per cent. grades.

Mr. Moss, of Sandusky: I would like to ask Mr. Wharton the size of the cars that he uses, whether fourteen feet or sixteen feet, and then to suggest that in all the correspondence and talk that I have had with storage battery people, so far, they always talk to me about using a fifteen horse power motor. Mr. Wharton talks of a ten horse power motor; that is, two five horse power. I would like some explanation of the difference.

Mr. Wharton: I do not know anything about what other people may say, of course. I know that two motors of five horse power each ought to be sufficient, but there is great confusion among electrical experts as to just what is wanted, and just how to do the thing which is wanted. With an average car of sixteen feet, inside measurement, the average two-horse car, in other words, and a street-railway with no excessive grades, and with motors properly constructed (understand I do not mean motors, which, when you want the most efficiency, will give the least; into which when you are going around a curve or going up a grade or starting you will have to pour electricity like water into a colander; that will fill up finally after you pour enough water into it, an enormous amount being wasted; I do not mean that kind of motors, but motors which will stand up under the adverse conditions of starting a car, or starting when pulling another car, and will give you as much percentage return of efficiency under such circumstances as if developing only one or two horse power), I mean good motors, properly constructed, with everything as it ought to be; of this kind, two motors, five horse power each, ought to be and are enough, under the usual and ordinary exigencies of street car traffic, to propel the car filled with passengers.

Mr. Cleminshaw, of Troy: Why do you not use one ten in place of two five horse power motors?

Mr. Wharton: In answer to that, there is a great deal to be said on both sides; but I believe that two motors of five horse power each are better than one of ten horse power, for the reason that you have a much better chance for combination in adjusting the current, where electricity is used with two motors than with only one; but, on the other hand, if you have two machines, you have two machines to keep in order, and you have double the chance of breaking down; although, as an offset to that again, you have two motors, either one of which will, probably, under favorable conditions, be able to get you home to the station. There are certain advantages on either side of the question. In regard to having two motors, you can apply one motor to each axle, so as to make all four of the wheels driving wheels. If you take one motor, you are reduced to the necessity of either having but two driving wheels on one axle, or to having some connection between the driving pair of wheels and the other pair, which otherwise would not be driving wheels. When you go into that question, you have complications.

The whole subject is one which must be carefully studied, and by experience developed. There are people who will send out circulars, and possibly you have received some, who say that the thing is now ready, everything is all ready to go right ahead. I tell you there are numberless little things, little details, all of which must be attended to. The several methods of application must be tested in order to discover which is the best method, so that I am not in a position now to state that this is the best, or that that is the best. I simply can indicate what I think is likely to be the best, and point out the advantages and disadvantages of each, because there is not one that is all good, nor one that is all bad. I believe, however, that two motors, each attached to its own driving axle, are more satisfactory than one motor.

Mr. Fitch, of Gloucester: I would like to ask the power of the motors used upon the car that we inspected last night upon the street. I noticed that it moved very powerfully and gracefully around curves.

Mr. Wharton: The motor on that car is able to develop eleven horse power; and there is no doubt whatever that we sometimes get more power out of it.

Mr. Moss: In New York, yesterday, I was told that it took, thirteen hours to store what I understood to be a fifteen horse power battery; and you speak of storing the battery in four hours.

Mr. Wharton: I do not like to be brought in this personal relation to the matter. I deprecate it, because I want to treat the thing in a general way; but since it has been brought right down to asking me pointed questions, I will state, as a fact, that we do charge our batteries in four hours. I do not know what other people do. I know they sometimes do a great many things that I think are useless; but if it takes them thirteen hours to charge batteries that will run four hours, they are behind the times. We charge, and anybody who has the proper arrangements can charge, what is used in four hours in the same length of time. I have not heard anybody until to-day doubt it, or make the assertion that it required any more time. I can assure you it does not take any longer time.

Mr. Moss: I asked it simply as a question.

Mr. Wharton: It is absolutely a fact; it does not take more than four hours.

Mr. Richards, of Boston: I have listened with great interest to this report of Mr. Wharton's, and to my mind it is one of the most exhaustive reports on the subject, in the light of the present day, in the light of our present progress in this matter, that could have been written; because it embodies the results of Mr. Wharton's practical experience in experimenting with this unknown power. I believe, Mr. President, that it is well known in this Convention that I have always been one of the strongest, and I may say, earliest, advocates of this system. I do not propose myself to sit here and ask Brother Wharton why this is the case, or why that is the case. I do not think we should seek further knowledge in this matter now, beyond the mere curiosity, the interested curiosity, we may feel, all of us, to know that he has arrived at a point now where he has demonstrated that a car can be run and propelled through the streets of Philadelphia by electricity. That should be enough at this time; and to know that in his judgment a car can be so propelled at a cost much less than animal power. I am so much delighted and pleased with what Mr. Wharton has done, that in the light of that fact, and knowing that we possess an actual electric motor that can be practically applied, we must be content and will be content to await further developments; and it seems better for this Convention, to my mind, to stop and pause a moment, and reflect where we are now; to take an observation from this large vessel on this great sea of discovery, to properly appreciate where we are now. Last night, Mr. President, I was invited by the gentleman to take a ride around the streets and over the car tracks of this city in an electric car. What does that mean? It means that we came down to the door of this hotel in a vehicle, which to the eye possessed and assumed nothing different from the ordinary horse car that was passing every minute in front of my eyes in the street. He invited in as many as there were - as many as could ride and be accommodated, and then we took that ride through the streets and over the railroad tracks of Philadelphia. Let us pause there! Let us rejoice there, and let us find that measure of satisfaction which the very announcement brings. I was invited to take my good wife and daughter with me; and I should have been more proud than I ever was, if I had ridden around on a dump cart, with them with me, so long as it was propelled by electricity, and animal power was not to be seen and was not exerted. Now, sir, where are we in this matter; what progress have we made, and where are we tending? If we could say or had to say this: if we had an electric car, if that car was supplied with motors or storage batteries or equivalent devices (I do not care much about scientific terms), if we could do all that, then we could displace horses, and all these innumerable and pleasant results would follow. Now let us consider the fact for a moment that that if is not in the way. The thing is here to-day; the child is born. Now let us lead it on. As I stated three years ago, in New York, the child is born and here. Let us lead it on and rejoice in the fact that it is here!

Now, why go into a carping criticism of Mr. Wharton, about this motor or that motor, or this, that or the other? Sufficient let it be to say he has got what he has - what he has produced here before you; and which he has done at his own individual expense and by his own individual exertions. I think you will all agree with me, gentlemen, that such is the progress in the application of electricity - something about which we know nothing, something which we have only just harnessed - when we see before our eyes a practical electrical car, into which we can go and ride all around the city, that it is not for us to-day to care whether there are two motors or whether there is one? No gentleman will care about those things who has got on that car and rode around in it as I did last night. As I understand, Mr. Wharton is going to invite you to ride on that car again to-day. When you are on it, think where you are, and what is being done. Ask yourself what is propelling it; no compressed air, no steam, nothing of that kind, nothing that you can see or ever heard of, but something coming out of the clouds where the angels dwell, and which they send down to us, and which is going to propel our cars through the streets. Just think of it! That is the way I feel about it.

This gentleman's (Mr. Wharton's) modesty is only equaled by his electrical success. You are asking him what he knows nothing about; but we know that he has harnessed it. We have got it here to-day, and it is the greatest blessing that railroad men ever received at God's hands. Compare it with the cable, if you will. Your common sense will soon show you the difference between a car containing its own motive power, and one that must be dragged along the street; and there is no money to be spent on your tracks. Compare it with animal power, or power inanimate, any that you will, or that you happen to have, and you will be convinced of the superiority of electricity. Horses are liable to sickness, to be disabled. A thousand things may happen to horses. I notice that nothing has been said of an expenditure which amounts to nearly one-half of the cost of the horses, and that is the cost of the ground upon which to build a stable for the horses, and the cost of the stable itself. What does it cost to care for horses? It takes three or four hundred brawny Irishmen to take care of the four thousand horses belonging to the Company which I represent, and they are ready to "strike" at any time. It takes about four hundred thousand dollars worth of feed to keep these horses in condition to do their work. Each horse is to us a motor. The horse is what we use to propel and drag our cars. We place him on this side and feed him with four hundred thousand dollars of provender. On the other side, we place our motor and feed that with electricity. What is the cost of electricity? It costs only that which is necessary to produce it. I am told by a scientific man that a five hundred horse power engine, running twenty-four hours steadily, will produce enough electricity to run my cars. On this side I say, I feed my motor with electricity, with what it costs to run five hundred horse power, and on the other side I feed my horses with all the oats and corn lean haul in Boston. Why, I have been figuring steadily for two or three hours, since I went around the streets on that motor, to see if I can find what the difference is between the cost of shoeing my horses, and what it would take to run the machinery to supply the electricity for my cars, and I believe the difference is not very great. Does not your common sense hold you back from asking such questions as these, and compel you to be silent in the presence of such great facts? Call this enthusiasm, if you please; call it ignorance, if you will; if you will show me that I am wrong, I will pay for the champagne. In this presence, I say to the members of this Convention who are here to discuss matters which are to us of the utmost importance, I say, let us rather come together and raise our hands in joyful acclamation that something of this kind has been discovered and is here to-day; and do not stop to discuss theories as to whether it is two motors or one, or whether you have sprocket wheels, or I do not know what all in it as well. You have the fact before you. You can ride around in the car to-day, as I did last night, and find it a leviathan in power and a little mussel or fish in management. You can run up and bump a car in front of it and you would not break an egg-shell; you can start it so that you can stand with a cup of water in each hand - I have not seen any gentlemen here with cups of water in their hands [laughter] - and not upset it when you stop or start, or you can do as Mr. Wharton did with me, endeavor to frighten me to death. You can run it off the track on to your beautifully paved streets here (the cussedest ones I ever saw, if you can call great boulders paving [laughter]); you can run it off the track with all four wheels on the pavement, with forty or fifty passengers in it. What do you think of that? There is a power so gentle in it that you can run, as I told you, so nicely up to the other fellow in front, that he will not know you have touched him, and at the same time you have a strength in it sufficient to run your car on the pavements, and almost enough to drive it through the Rocky Mountains.

Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, for taking up so much time. I am not enthusiastic nor full [laughter]; but I want to make a suggestion, and that is this, that we invite this pleasant little gentleman at your side, sir, to bring out his goods and show them, and he asks us to get on his car and ride around, and then all of you want to crawl under it on your stomachs and see what he has there. But if you are as pleased with it, as I am, you will want to ask no questions except one: what is the price and how soon are you going to make them?


INVITATION FROM THE ELECTRIC CAR COMPANY OF AMERICA, AND WILLIAM WHARTON, Jr., & CO., INCORPORATED.

The Secretary read the following letter:

Philadelphia, October, 19, 1887.

William J. Richardson, Esq., Secretary, American Street-Railway Association,

Dear Sir:- On behalf of the Electric Car Company of America, and also of William Wharton, Jr., & Co., Incorporated, I hereby extend to the members of the American Street-Railway Association an invitation to visit the works of the two companies on Friday morning, the 21st inst., or at any other time that may best suit their convenience.

Yours truly,
WILLIAM WHARTON, Jr


Mr. Littell: I move that the invitation be accepted.

Mr. Hood, of Camden: I move to amend, with thanks.

Mr. Cleminshaw: The hour is not mentioned.

The President: We will fix upon that hereafter.

continues...

[Lock]

1887, continued...

DISCUSSION RESUMED ON ELECTRICITY AS A MOTIVE POWER.

Mr. Humphrey, of Concord: I want to back up what my friend Richards said in regard to the electric car and this motor. I have been somewhat interested in the matter of motors for some years; especially so, for a young man like myself! I feel that I want to get at all the progress of the day, whatever it may be. When we decided nearly two years ago to adopt steam motors on our road, I visited Brooklyn, where they had the steam motors in use running to Fort Hamilton, and went home and ordered two steam motors. We are running them now, five miles out and five miles back, and two miles with horses, and we have met with great success. We have since then doubled our receipts. Now, if there is anything better we want it. We will shut up the steam motors in the barn or car house if we can have anything better; and I say truly, that I have been gratified to the greatest extent by the exhibition of the motor last night. We went over all the rough roads (I did not suppose there were such rough roads anywhere), and some very short curves; and one curve in particular we got around, and I think it is only eighteen foot radius. That car went around it like a bird; in short, the trial was a complete success. Another thought I have had in my head a good deal; it is the idea of a slippery rail, or the rail being wet, as to the matter of the adhesion of the wheel to the rail. That is offered as a strong objection. If you recollect, last evening we had a little rain; just enough to make it slippery upon the track. It did not make any difference at all. The car went along just as if it were alive; and I must say that I must congratulate Mr. Wharton, and the institution he represents, in their great success in bringing forth that improvement which I think is going to be upon every horse railway in this country.

Mr. Hood: No action having yet been taken on Mr. Wharton's invitation, I move that the invitation be accepted, and that the thanks of the Convention be tendered to Mr. Wharton for his invitation and able paper. Carried.

Mr. Cleminshaw: It is well understood by all the gentlemen here that our friend Mr. Richards is the eloquent man of the Convention, and that this subject of electricity is one of his strongest points; but to one remark that he made, as I was one of the questioners of Mr. Wharton, I want to take exception. He says that we should be satisfied with what we see and wait for the rest. He did not say that he has been down on his stomach, but we infer that he has been under that machine. The whole of us here have the same curiosity that he has; and in these questions that we have asked Mr. Wharton, it was not with a view either of curiosity or criticism, but for the purpose of getting information. Our friend Mr. Wharton is modest, as we all know; but his friend, Mr. Richards, is perfectly able to protect him. I do not believe there is a single gentleman who wishes to criticise. We are only too glad to know that there is something coming; and I think our friend is only too glad to give us what information he can on the subject.

Mr. Wharton: I was about to observe, before Mr. Cleminshaw made his remarks, that I did not wish to have anything I said to be construed into an idea that I did not want to answer any and all questions that could be put. I will be very happy to do so; I can only state what we have done up to this time; and we believe that what we will do in the future will be much better, and a great deal further advanced; yet, if we never advance one iota beyond what we have already done, I should say I was entirely satisfied. As to saying, as I said before, that this is better, or that is better, or that we have now got the best, I do not pretend to say anything of the sort, and I shall only be too happy to answer any and all questions that you can put, if I am able to do so. I do not pretend to be an electrical expert. I do not think it is necessary to view this thing in that light. I want to look at it in the light of a practical railroad man. I want to know how much it costs to produce the power, what the machinery and plant cost that produce that power, how long they will last, and how much the power will do. I want to get it right down to a question of money value and practical working combined.

Mr. McCreery, of Pittsburgh: I have been listening with a good deal of interest to these remarks, and I want to ask a question. Some of us cannot remain until Friday morning; and I would like to ask whether that motor car, with its machinery and plant, can be seen before that time. I am yet a great deal of a child, Mr. President, I like to have things in my hands and look at them. I would like to examine the machinery and plant, and should like to go with several of my friends between this and to-morrow.

Mr. Wharton: I would like to have the gentlemen ride in the car; it will carry about thirty-five, although we have had forty-eight ride in it; we can carry as many as the car will hold, and we shall have it in front of the Continental Hotel this evening, at half-past seven, when we shall be glad to take you around the streets and bring it back again, and do this two or three times; and we will take you down to our works in the evening, afterward. I propose the evening, because it will not interfere with any of the sessions of this Convention; and we will do the same to-morrow evening. In the meantime, I expect and believe we shall have an eight-wheel car in service to-morrow, which we are fitting together to-day. It will be of much greater capacity and better constructed. The motors of this new car only weigh five hundred pounds apiece. They are of the capacity of eleven horse power each normal, and can be worked up to fifteen horse power each. They are the lightest electrical motors per horse power, probably, that are made in the world. Their combined capacity, at a maximum power, when pushed, as we will have occasion to do, possibly, will develop fifteen horse power each, or thirty horse power together. They are normally of eleven horse power each; and, as I told you, their weight is exceedingly small, five hundred pounds each, exclusive of the connections with the car-axles. The combined weight of the motors and their connections with the car-axles is about eight hundred pounds each, which includes everything. We will show you these, even if we do not have the car in service. We will give you every opportunity to look at the parts, and will show you the whole business; where we generate the electricity for the motors, and how we do it; and will let you see everything.

Mr. Vhay, of Detroit: A question has suggested itself to my mind in regard to this matter, and in viewing it from all sides, I observe that the street-railways in this country are numerous and operated entirely independently in themselves; so that if the progress continues in the usefulness of electricity as a motor power, and should be adopted by street-railway companies, would it not be well for this Association to be vigilant, and see that the different devices necessary to be used are not so monopolized as to make it impossible for small companies to adopt them, on account of the high royalties that might be put upon them, and, like many concentrated monopolies, bring about a condition whereby a small per cent. could only be made by the company operating the road against a large per cent. exacted by the different patentees. Such were the facts at the introduction of electricity for light, when we were led to believe that high prices were a thing of the past, and we would be furnished with an improved light at about the cost of candles, but such a condition has not been realized, in great part, by the danger I mention above.

Mr. Wharton: I would like to say a few words. There are, in the electrical world, so many people, so many patents and so many different methods of applying electricity, the advocates of each claiming so much (offering to do much more sometimes than they can perform), there are so many of them that there is sure to be a wholesome competition and rivalry to get the custom of the street-railway companies. I do not think there is any need to fear that the street-railway companies will be obliged to pay too much. There are a great many things upon which there are no patents at all; others which have been so long known that the patents upon them have run out and they have become public property. I have always advocated the better plan of not being too much in a hurry; but to take a look over the entire field, and ascertain what is the best. I do not believe that the railroad companies are going to undertake any experiments. I think that the people who have these things are the ones to experiment and make the outlay of money, and when they have got something to show you, you can try this one and that one and see which you like best and then make your purchase. You are not obliged to take any one in particular, there are so many.

Mr. Hurt, of Washington: In the experiments conducted by you, what is the steepest grade of the character stated in your paper?

Mr. Wharton: The storage battery cars in this country have not been in extensive use up to this time; but I will show you, when you go out on Friday morning, a car which will surmount a six per cent. grade; that is pretty steep. I do not pretend to be able, as I have heard some people say they are, to surmount any grade found on any street-railway. I have even heard one man say that electric cars by his method can ascend a grade of five thousand feet to the mile. I said to him, "I guess you have made a mistake; you mean five hundred feet." "No," he answered, "I know what I am talking about." The mile being only five thousand two hundred and eighty feet in length, a grade of five thousand feet would, therefore, be indicated by a line drawn at an angle of about 45 degrees. I would not discuss the matter any further with him. We can, with storage battery cars, surmount a grade of six feet to the hundred with perfect ease ; and I rode on the railroad in Scranton which surmounted seven and a quarter feet grade to the hundred, without any difficulty. A gentleman connected with our works, whom I sent out to Pittsburgh purposely to examine into the working of the electric railway there, said that he rode up a grade that was twelve and a half per cent., and they expected to run up one of fourteen. He did ride up one of twelve and a half feet. It is true that on that occasion they had nothing but the motor car itself. They intend that cars shall be drawn by the motor car. I cannot say how much it will do when the car is attached. He said it went perfectly well. The roads in Scranton and Pittsburgh have overhead electric conduction. We have shown you that we can get up six per cent. grades, without trouble, with storage battery cars; this will meet seven-eighths of the cases in the country. For the remainder, wait until it is proved that we can do better; but if you cannot wait, you can take the cable. The cable traction is a direct pull. It is a direct application of the steam engine to the weight or to the resistance, and the force is applied directly to the car. In the case of the electric railway, you depend for your moving power on the adhesion of the wheels on the track. There are a number of people who claim that by the application of electric attraction, they can get an artificial increased adhesion between the driving wheels and the rails. I have never seen anything of the sort or read of anything of the sort that I believed provided practicable means to accomplish that end, but if there is, nobody will welcome it more heartily than I will. That is what we want. I say we can now take a six per cent. grade, with storage battery cars, and that, for the purpose of seven-eighths of the railways in the United States, will meet the case.

Mr. Cleminshaw: I move that the report be accepted and spread on the minutes. Carried.

Mr. Richards: It seems to me that the invitation as given by Mr. Wharton to inspect his car ought to, and will be, accepted by everybody that wants to go. I would like to inquire of him how long the motors will run, how long he will run his car, and whether it would not be better to have stated hours or times, to be gone about thirty-five minutes, and then come back and take some more people. I think if you do not arrange it in some such way, we will all be on the sidewalk at once, and some of us will be disappointed. If you could come for one party and be gone a half hour, and come back and take some more, and have the time stated when you would come back, then each gentleman could arrange it to suit his convenience, and there would not be more for the first trip than could be taken, and nobody would be disappointed.

Mr. Wharton: They can start at half-past seven from the Continental, and take the round trip to Twentieth street, and be back again in thirty or forty minutes.

Mr. Richards: Is there any need to go so far?

Mr. Wharton: We are bound in the street by the horse cars; but we will make three trips in that way. We will start at seven, if you choose, and we will make three trips; and I would like some of the gentlemen to go with me to the works, and then start from there and come down here.

Mr. McCreery: Will you take us to your power house?

Mr. Richards: Go out in carriages? [Laughter.]

Mr Wharton: Go out in carriages; walk out; go out any way you please. I will be here at half-past six, and will gladly pilot such gentlemen as want to go there, and pay their fares on the horse cars, and then we will start from there and come in; and that will make one trip.


DISCUSSION CONTINUED ON ELECTRICITY AS A MOTIVE POWER.

The President: I want to say, in regard to the different institutions to which you have been invited, that we propose to set apart Friday for visiting them; and, of course, we will make known our arrangements to-morrow, so far as the details go. It is hardly possible that we will get through in less than two days, so far as the ordinary business of the Convention is concerned.

Mr. Winfield Smith: I should be glad to propound one question here for those who are wise in such matters to answer, not that I expect it to be answered just now, but perhaps some of the learned gentlemen will tell us before the Convention is concluded. One of the establishments to which we have been invited turns out a very good class of street-railway motors. These motors run by steam, and they do almost anything that these electric motors do. Why would not the steam motor be just as desirable for us to investigate as the electric motor; and what is there to be gained by turning the steam into electricity? Is there not something to be lost? The electric gentlemen, notably Mr. Wharton, could probably answer this question. I have seen these steam motors used with excellent results. Another gentleman has referred to the same thing. I think it is very properly a subject for comparison to see whether, on the whole, we gain anything by using electricity which has been manufactured by steam, when we may just as well use the Baldwin Locomotive Works' motor. I submit that question to those gentlemen who are able to answer; and I hope before the Convention closes they will give us their ideas about it.

Mr. Wharton: The question why a steam motor is not better than the electric motor will not require a long answer. In the first place, a great advantage gained by the use of a stationary steam engine of large capacity is found in the fact that the amount of fuel consumed and the cost of generating the steam are very much less, as all of you know who are conversant with the subject, than by having it distributed through a number of small locomotive engines. There is a percentage so great that some of you will hardly believe it in favor of the one central source of power, a large steam engine, with the best "cut-off" appliances and all the other approved modern inventions. That is the first reason why there is a great loss in the use of small locomotives for propelling cars; but apart from that altogether, the city authorities will not let you use steam motors in the street, and you cannot do it; that is all there is to that. I do not want to go particularly into the details of the numberless cases where they have been tried and found wanting, as I stated in the paper. The loss to which the gentleman alludes in regard to the conversion of motion into electricity, and its conversion back again into motion, is not a bit more than the loss which is inevitably sustained by distributing and dividing the power of a large stationary engine into a number of small movable engines. This is true even upon the best locomotive engines of large size that the Pennsylvania Railroad has, or any other railroad. The percentage of power returned from the consumption of a ton of coal is very greatly less with locomotives than with stationary engines. I cannot tell just how much it is, but it is very much less than you can obtain from a first-class large stationary engine where everything is done quietly, regularly, and at rest; at any rate, however, if you are not allowed to use steam motors, that is all there is to it. The city authorities will not allow their use, except in a few places; and where they do, then you can use steam. The electric motors are to come in between horse power and steam power, and to do that work for which neither of them is adapted, and for which steam will not be allowed to be used.

Mr. Beall, of Washington: In addition to Mr. Wharton's remarks, with reference to the relative efficiency of the steam motor and the electric motor, I would say that the efficiency of the electric motor has certainly been proven, in dividing power into small units, as greater than that of steam. Take a large engine, two hundred and fifty horse power, and under favorable circumstances, that can produce its power at an expenditure of two and a half or three pounds of coal per horse power per hour. With a small motor, five to eight or ten horse power, it requires five and a half to eight pounds of coal per horse power per hour to produce it. Again, in dividing this large steam power into small units, it requires for each motor an experienced engineer, one who, in most cities, must be a licensed one, and he must be paid a higher salary than a man who could take charge of an electric car. Then there is the nuisance of a steam motor of any description - of any make that has yet been used on the streets. It is simply unbearable, and it has been denounced wherever it has been used, in any thickly settled city or town, especially in the West. We have had two or three. We have one that was not operated long before it brought about a runaway that nearly caused a farmer to lose his life, seriously injured his wife, broke his wagon to pieces, and I don't know what it didn't do. The electric motor has certainly the greater efficiency, is less objectionable in cities, and is the cheaper as regards first cost.

Mr. Frayser: In view of the kind invitations we have received, would it not be well for the Secretary to prepare a simple badge of some kind, as some of our delegates may want to visit these places singly.

The President: We will make some provision of that kind.

Mr. Humphrey: I see the subject for discussion this afternoon is "Motors Other than Cable or Electric." When it comes up, and there is anything to be said, I will be happy to give my experience. I have in my hand the photograph of a car that I have got up from my own design. I think it is an improvement over other cars. There is no patent about it; nothing of the kind. It is open for inspection, and if any of you can get an idea from it, or if it will be in anyway of advantage to you, I want you to take it.

On motion, a recess until 3 o'clock was taken.

WEDNESDAY'S SESSION—AFTERNOON.

The President called the meeting to order at 3:15 P. M.

DISCUSSION RESUMED ON ELECTRICITY AS A MOTIVE POWER.

The President: I understand that there are one or two parties that would like to talk on the subject of electricity further than it has already been discussed. Is it the sense of the meeting to hear such?

Mr. Richards: I hope that anybody who wants to discuss the subject further will be permitted; that is what we are here for. I hope no one but delegates will be permitted to discuss the subject; because if that door were opened, every supply man that is here would want to make a speech.

The President : I understand that in this case the gentleman is not a delegate.

Mr. Richards: What is the sense of the meeting?

The President: Mr. Sprague is here and would like to say something on the subject of electricity. Is it the wish of the Convention to hear Mr. Sprague?

Mr. McCreery: I hope it is. We come from a distance, many of us, at a sacrifice of valuable time, and we hope that the Convention will listen a limited time to Mr. Sprague.

Mr. Humphrey: Is not that opening a pretty wide door to every other gentleman who wants to show his invention?

Mr. Frayser: We have come a good distance to hear and to learn, but we have a certain programme to go through with; and no doubt it would facilitate the business of this Convention to go through our regular programme first, and then if there is anything to come up afterwards, we can hear discussions upon it. We are to go Friday, some of us to-night, to look at Mr. Wharton's electric car, and after we see that and inform ourselves, we shall become more enlightened; and then we would listen with a good deal more attention and interest, no doubt, to any gentleman who proposes to address us on the subject of electricity.

The President: I have told these gentlemen that, in all probability, we would have time to listen to them to morrow after we get through with our regular business.

Mr. Powers, of Boston: I trust that we may hear from Mr. Sprague, who is here now at this time. Two hours hence he will not be here. I have not had very firm faith in electricity as a motive power, but I am ready to hear everything that can be said in its favor. Mr. Sprague is a very important man on the subject of electricity, as he has done more to develop the electric motor than, perhaps, any other that has preceded him. He is here and would not occupy more than ten or fifteen minutes, and I move you that Mr. Sprague be invited to say a few words to the Convention on the subject of electricity, to be limited to fifteen minutes.

The motion was carried.


REMARKS OF MR. F. J. SPRAGUE ON ELECTRICITY AS A MOTIVE POWER.

Mr. Sprague: It is rather a surprise to me to be placed in this position. I came to this Convention in the hope of hearing Mr. Wharton's paper, because I, in company with other gentlemen who are interested in this question, desired to hear the practical criticisms of men who dealt with the street-railways of the country, and who followed them as the business of their lives. We have sometimes an exaggerated idea of our capacities and capabilities, and the enthusiasm with which we may pursue this particular branch of the application of motors to street-railways may be somewhat cooled by this criticism. I would be glad to avoid any personal allusions, so far as possible; and, if any of the gentlemen of the Convention desire information, I would be glad to give it. I think I can say in pretty general terms, and in a way that will not admit of much contradiction, that electric motors have come to stay. The day of the horse car, as propelled by horses, is, I think, after a good deal of mature deliberation and careful study of the subject, going to come to an end at no very distant time.

You are all familiar with the fact that there are three principal methods of propelling street cars by electricity. They are the overhead line and the conduit, which are systems of direct supply, and the storage battery system. That one of these three methods ought to answer all requirements is beyond all possible question. The overhead line is the cheapest. It has the objection which every other overhead system has. It may be unsightly in its appearance, and perhaps be somewhat in the way, but it is the most efficiently developed method up to the present time. Of course, the conduit cannot be put down except at a very large cost per foot or mile. That cost, of course, would not be tolerated on a good many lines, because it would not pay more than one or two per cent, on the capital invested; whereas the overhead line can be put in at greatly reduced expense; will answer all practical purposes, and will make a fair return on the investment; but still the underground system is going to come into more or less favor. In the third system we have the objection of the weight of the storage battery and the space which it takes; but we have at the same time the independence of action, which is a great advantage. I am, with others, interested in this question of the storage battery system, and we are conducting extensive tests.

One of our motors is running in Philadelphia on this system. We are going to have in Baltimore, St. Louis, New York and Boston storage battery cars, sometimes under our control, sometimes not, both eight wheel and four wheel cars, to all of which, we are going to devote the most careful attention that we can; in fact we intend to get all there is out of the storage battery. The storage battery has this defect, that it has not only to carry its own weight, but itself uses a certain amount of energy. It is quite possible to build motors, where two motors are used, in which you can get out of a storage battery circuit a total efficiency as high as eighty per cent for fourteen or fifteen horse power. This has not heretofere been done, because of the drain on the storage battery, and because so little has been known about the combination of storage batteries and motors by any one concerned. They have not been handled properly, and they have not given the efficiency required in proportion to the amount of power they have produced, and there has been a decided lack of economy on that account. We have records in our hands which will enable us to work on certainties, and to get as high as eighty per cent. of efficiency out of the storage battery, and develop fifteen horse power. That is as high as will be required on a street car with seventy to eighty passengers. We expect to handle it so as to get it up to a running speed of eight or nine miles an hour, under all conditions. From the experiments that Mr. Wright made on the North Chicago City Railway, and from our own experiments; and judging from all the reliable data we can secure, it will take about an eleven or twelve horse power motor to get a heavily loaded car under way rapidly on a level. The elements of speed and distance and grade must go into the estimate of what is going to be done. Whether the electric railway has come to stay may probably be judged by the conditions of a contract by which we are obligated to equip eleven miles of road, operate forty cars, and take as high as an eight per cent. grade, and curves as sharp as twenty-seven foot radius combined with sharp grades. Starting with the engines, we are going to try to develop all that there is in the system in that station; and the moment we get the records, and get them so that they will stand, day after day, and week after week, so that they are reliable, then we propose to submit them to this Association. We may theorize all we please; but what you gentlemen wish to see is the cars taking in five cents a passenger, hour after hour and day after day; and if the electric railway will bring the five cents in more frequently, and secure to you larger dividends than the horse railway, that is what you want.

The question of traction, which has been offered as an objection to electric railways in cities, will not hold up to six per cent. grades, and possibly higher. By propelling, as we do, both wheels of the car, and applying a sweeper, you can make it possible to clean your track as you go along. We are taking as high as eight per cent., but it is still a question whether it is advisable to try grades over six per cent. It seems to me that the matter of economy should determine that; instead of making your motors develop very unusual power, and thus have a greater force than can be economically used at other points, the most sensible thing is to put horses at the unusual grades; especially is this true with storage batteries. If you have motors that will overcome normal grades, it is not wise to demand of the storage batteries the full extent of their capacity in ascending an exceptionally heavy grade. It seems to me it is a more sensible thing to put on horses to help the car up that grade. We have experiments going on with some of the Julien storage batteries, and we are going to get records Of what they will do day after day. These experiments will be conducted under conditions which will take all speeds, from nothing up to sixteen and seventeen miles per hour on a clear way and track. Some things will be done here in this city, also in Baltimore, and in St. Louis; and by getting these independent records on tracks of various curves and different grades, we think we will eventually get something which will be just the thing for street-railways. The fact is that we are pushing this work with, if necessary, a thousand men behind us, one hundred of these being devoted to special work. I think with a judicious expenditure of money, we ought sooner or later to get the facts of this thing, and until we do, we do not ask the street car men to believe statements which we make in favor of storage batteries.

Mr. Winfield Smith: Why should a conduit line in itself be expensive?

Mr Sprague: You have got to meet the conditions of insulation of the conductor. If the insulation is poor, and it should happen in those systems in which the entire current is carried by the conductor from which the car derives its current, that a short circuit occur, you might disable the whole line, the same as if you stranded your cable. If an electrical conductor is put down in a conduit in a place like Boston, for example, you will oftentimes find at certain places in the streets a pool of water six or seven inches deep, and nothing but the conduit to take it away. You cannot put a shallow conduit in a place like that, and be certain of insulation or protection; certainly, electric railways would offer no greater advantage in that respect than any other system of putting down conductors in the ground. In all cases the conductors must be protected in some way; and if you are going to expose these conductors to traveling contacts, you cannot put them in a shallow conduit.

If you are going to put down a conduit system, you must put a good deal of your money in the ground work. You have got to go into it precisely as in any other business matter; you must put money enough into it to guarantee success.

The utmost limit of the storage battery has not been reached. There are a great many gentlemen here in the room that I know are working upon it; and I have reason to believe in its success.

Mr. Thurston, of Jersey City: I would like to ask Mr. Sprague a question. I have been experimenting with electricity for some two years or more. On three of our lines we have grades that are two thousand feet long, and on two lines there are grades of six per cent. The question is, whether Mr. Sprague, in the event of our adopting the storage battery system, would recommend that, on those grades, we should have horses to help the cars up, or have an independent motor with, perhaps, instead of five horse power, twenty horse power, to carry us up the hill, and then return on the other track ready to meet the next car coming up the hill.

Mr. Sprague: I think the question well put. This extra power has been proposed, and is advisable at the point of grades. I have suggested that instead of exhausting the power of your storage battery to ascend these grades, that you have some other power at these grades, whether a motor, horses or cable. All three have been suggested. You have got the question of traction on a steep grade. We have cars go up a six per cent. grade with only one pair of wheels; and under like conditions, it is possible you might go up an eight or nine per cent. grade, using both wheels; but unless you want to creep up the hill, you must increase the power of your machines. The suggestion is practicable, and should be followed, some additional power being used at the steepest points of grade.

Mr. McCreery, of Pittsburgh: We understand that Mr. Sprague has given us the objections in regard to the storage battery and of the conduit in the track. Do I understand him correctly that the overhead wire or system has no such objections?

Mr. Sprague: I hope you will not misunderstand me as being here to press any special system. There are difficulties connected with the overhead system in its practical application; but, of course, it has not the serious difficulty of insulation, which applies to the underground system. In the overhead system, you have not the additional weight to carry that you have in the storage battery system. I believe in the storage system, as well as any of the others. It is not developed to-day as it ought to be. Other gentlemen and myself are hard at work, trying to get everything we can out of it. To take a car over a certain grade with a certain weight requires an expenditure of power, and this we want as cheaply as possible. Of course, the object of every man interested is to make the storage battery go as far as he can. The overhead system is in a purely tentative stage; it, perhaps, would not be tolerated in twenty large cities in the country; it certainly would not be allowed in New York City. It would not be tolerated in any place where the feeling is against overhead lines. I simply speak of the overhead system as answering, in a great many cases,the purposes of a motive power for street-car propulsion, where other systems would not pay. There are cases where you could invest one thousand dollars with profit, and not twenty thousand dollars. The question must be determined in this light, whether you deal with a road of one minute headway, or with a road of six or eight minutes headway. The Broadway road in New York should be dealt with entirely different from a road of five or six miles in length, having only two or three cars. Would it pay to use electricity in such cases? The more cars you have on the line, the greater will be the saving; the fewer cars you have on the line, the less will be the economy of electrical propulsion for any given distance. There is a certain point in any line in which you have to get up to a certain number of cars, in order to make the economy of the system of operation by electricity warrant you in adopting it. I do not believe in adopting electricity because it is electricity, no matter what the system. It must be adopted only when it affords you a more certain and cheaper method of carrying a given number of passengers over your road, and thus give you an opportunity of earning more money.

Mr. Cleminshaw: I understand that the gentleman stated that there is one of his motors here in this city. Could he give us the approximate cost of one of these motors?

Mr. Sprague: I would rather not touch upon that question; there are too many points involved; you would need sometimes only a five horse power motor, and sometimes you would require a ten or fifteen horse power motor.

Mr. Cleminshaw: Say one sufficient for a car in this city?

Mr. Sprague: I do not know what grades you have. I am not acquainted with the grades in this city.

Mr. Cleminshaw: Say five or ten horse power?

Mr. Sprague: I think I would rather not discuss the price of cars.

Mr. Cleminshaw: The only point is to get some approximate idea of the cost of one.

Mr. Sprague: When really wanted, complete estimates can be gotten from others, as well as myself. You can form no idea of the cost of an electrical system by giving simply the price of the motor. You must have your original steam power and your original dynamos. They supply the electricity to your motors, whether through the storage, underground or overhead system. There is also the question of the application of the motor to the cars, and the question of grades, and the power necessary to overcome them.

Mr. McNamara, of Albany: I should like to know what number of cars the gentleman has in mind in connection with economy.

Mr. Sprague: If I was operating a six mile road, and only had two cars, I think I would leave electricity alone; if I was going to operate six cars, I would use electricity.

Mr. McNamara: Then you would use electricity on a six car road?

Mr. Sprague: Yes; possibly a storage battery or the overhead system. I would not use a conduit system in that case.

Mr. McNamara: On three miles of road, with two cars?

Mr. Sprague: I do not think I would bother with electricity in that case, unless I could have power, for in an independent system, you must have your day engineer, and you must have another one for the night, if you run twenty-four hours. You must keep your working force below what you have with horse cars, in order to secure economy. When I speak of the number of cars. I want to impress this idea, the more cars there are, the greater the economy. Suppose you have one car, and suppose you had grades that required you to have twenty-five horse power in your central station; if you had fifty cars, you would not need fifty times the power. You would require simply the average for the entire system.

Mr. Frayser: The same thing as if you run a lathe from a line of shafting, or run twenty, operating each independently; you can do vastly more in the aggregate than you could by running only the one line.

Mr. McCreery: Is the waste of metals very great in the storage battery system?

Mr. Sprague: The storage battery people guarantee their batteries for two years, provided they are used so that no unreasonable demand is made upon them. The battery must be used with care. People who make storage batteries are excessive in their conditions; they must come down to a commercial basis. Their capitalization is too high. So long as there is this feeling about the storage battery interests, as there is to-day, excessive capitalization and fights about patents, just so long will it stand a bar to the successful introduction of their apparatus. I hope to see batteries much reduced in price, lightened in weight and in general use all over the country. Their use involves specially built cars. One trouble is that the storage battery people, in their rivalry, will guarantee their batteries beyond their capacity. Of course the storage battery in its present form for propelling purposes is rather crude. It is not like a great many elements in the street car service, in which you have had experience, and of which you have accurate records. The storage battery has been in use more or less for seven years, and improvements have been made in the last year or two, some of which have been important; but as I understand it, most storage battery companies are unwilling to guarantee their batteries for longer than two years. Their own experience has only been two years.

Mr. Moss: I have four miles of road and am operating seven cars. I understand that you say it would be advisable to use electricity on this road.

Mr. Sprague: I should if I believed in it; if I did not believe in it, I would not use it.

Mr. Moss: What system, the storage battery or the overhead wire?

Mr. Sprague: I know the overhead system will work, and believe the storage battery system will work. The only question is one of economy. I cannot say to you, nor can any other man, what the life of a storage battery will be. I believe that a well-handled storage battery will last two years or more, under proper service. If it is excessively used, or not properly cared for, it will not last so long.

Mr. Moss: Then you think that I could economically work an overhead system, and save money in the operation of my road by that system, as compared with horses?

Mr. Sprague: I do.

Mr. Thurston: I would like to ask Mr. Sprague if he has
arrived at any approximate estimate of the wastage of the power while the battery is not in use but is charged for actual use, and is not apt to be used for twenty-four or forty-eight hours?

Mr. Sprague: Where the cells are well made, and the battery is properly constructed, it ought to stand without using it for many hours and not leak appreciably; the storage battery being nothing more nor less than a convenient means of putting energy into lead plates and taking it out again.

[Fast Eddie]

[quote="Lock"] The electric motor must remain subordinate to steam, water, or original force, until a new and cheaper source is discovered."

"Original Force" Perhaps showing some ignorance here, but what's that?

Doug

[Lock]

The electric motor must remain subordinate to steam, water, or original force, until a new and cheaper source is discovered."
"Original Force" Perhaps showing some ignorance here, but what's that?
Doug

Hehe... same old, same old, EVen today...

This Dutch ebike company is fun...
http://www.kempstarley.nl/forenses.html

About us
The Kemp Starley bicycles are adapted for the European market by Forenses BV in Wormerveer. Forenses is a dynamic company which is involved in the development, composition and construction of all kinds of electric bicycles. This is done in close cooperation with manufacturers which are subjected to a strict selection procedure in terms of quality and finish. With a Kemp Starley electric bicycle you can rest assured that you have a quality product which has been made with the greatest care.
Forenses BV's aim is to make electric bicycles available to a large public. Because of our careful calculations and efficiently organized company structure, we are able to use very competitive prices.

Development
The first electric bicycles appeared on the market in 2003. Electric bicycles now account for an important part of the total bicycle market, and the numbers sold increase every year; in 2009 more than 150,000 were sold in the Netherlands, and in 2011 this was 175,000.

and:

The prototype of today's bicycles was built as early as in 1885 by John Kemp Starley. John Kemp Starley (1854-1901) was a British inventor who is regarded throughout the world as the inventor of the modern bicycle.


He was born in Walthamstow in Essex, and was the son of a gardener. In 1872 he moved to Coventry to start working for his uncle, the inventor James Starley. There he worked on the design of the "Ariel" bicycles for 5 years. These were bicycles of the velocipede model, with a large front wheel and a small rear wheel.
These bicycles were also know as high "bis".

In 1877 he started his own company, Starley & Sutton Co., together with William Sutton; its aim was to produce safe, easy-to-use bicycles.

When he attended the "Stanley Bicycle Show" with his "Rover" in 1885, he wrote history with the first safety bicycle: a bicycle with 2 wheels of the same size, with power transmission by means of a chain on the rear wheel.

This low bicycle with a frame from steel tubes was called a "safety" bike because it was much safer and much more stable than the high bi. The bicycle as we know it today was born.

In 1889 the company changed its name to J.K. Starley & Co. Ltd., and in 1898-1899 it became Rover Cycle Company Ltd. John Kemp Starley died in 1901. Soon after his death the Rover company started to build motorbikes, and then cars.

The designers of the electrically driven Kemp Starley bicycles still have the same goal as the inventor: to produce safe, easy-to-use bicycles that offer quality and functionality, and that are comfortable.

Kemp Starley: "where history meets quality".

Betcha they don't know that Starley did make an electric bike (trike) in 1888!:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8099&start=361




LocK

[Lock]

Thought I'd throw a build log in here for Holroyd Smith and his giant electric slot cars.

Michael Holroyd Smith was born in 1847 in Halifax, Yorkshire, and when he was seventeen his dad went into partnership with with Holroyds' uncle Fred who owned a successful wire manufacturing company founded for the production of cards for the textile industry in 1859 that expanded into making wire fencing and wires for the new telegraph and telephone industries.

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So young Holroyd went to work for his dad and uncle.

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Patent records show that in his early days he worked mostly on improvements to wire manufacturing equipment...

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
July 10, 1877.
Notices to Proceed.
Notice is hereby given, that -
973. And Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Wire Manufacturer, has given the like notice in respect of the invention of "Improvements in appliances connected with furnaces."
As set forth in his petition, recorded in the said office on the 10th day of March, 1877.
And notice is hereby further given, that all persons having an interest in opposing any one of such applications are at liberty to leave particulars in writing of their objections to such application at the said Office of the Commissioners, within twenty-one days after the date of the Gazette [and of the Journal] in which this notice is issued.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
August 28, 1877.
Applications for Letters Patent.
(24th, 25th, and 27th August, 1877.)
3249. Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Mechanical Engineer, for an invention of "Improvements in circular rotary furnaces." - Dated 27th August, 1877.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
September 11, 1877.
Applications for Letters Patent.
(7th, 8th, and 10th September, 1877.)
3406. Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Mechanical Engineer, for an invention of "Improvements in furnace bars and in apparatus connected therewith."—Dated 7th September, 1877.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
October 30, 1877.
Applications for Letters Patent.
(26th, 27th, and 29th October, 1877.)
3981. Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Mechanical Engineer, for an invention of "Improvements in electric-magnets and in magnetic motor-engines." - Dated 27th October, 1877.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
November 16, 1877.
Grants of Provisional Protection for Six Months.
Notice is hereby given that Provisional Protection has been allowed:
3981. To Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Mechanical Engineer, for the invention of "Improvements in electric-magnets and in magnetic motor-engines."

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
March 5, 1878.
Notices to Proceed.
Notice is hereby given, that -
3981. And Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Mechanical Engineer, has given the like notice in respect of the invention of "Improvements in electric-magnets and in magnetic motor-engines."
As set forth in their respective petitions, all recorded in the said office on the 27th day of October, 1877.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
April 26, 1878.
Patents Sealed.
List of Letters Patent which passed the Great Seal on the 24th April, 1878.
3981. Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Mechanical Engineer, for an invention of "Improvements in electric-magnets and in magnetic motor-engines." - Dated 27th October, 1877.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
May 21, 1878.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
(From the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, for the week ending 8th January, 1878.)
Vol. 13. - No. 2.
Titles Of Patents Granted 8th January, 1878.
199,000. Michael H. Smith, of Halifax, England, for "Furnace-feeders." - Application filed 13th August, 1877.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
May 31, 1878.
Patents which have become Void.
A List of the Letters Patent for Inventions which have become Void by reason of the Non-payment of the additional Stamp Duty of 50l., before the Expiration of the Third Year from the date of such Patents, pursuant to the Act of the 16 Vict., c. 5, sec. 2, for the week ending the 25th day of May, 1878.
1892. Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Wire Manufacturer, for an invention of "Improvements in furnace bars." - Dated 24th May, 1875.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
January 21, 1879.
Patents on which the Stamp Duty of £50 has been Paid, and Dates of their Production for Certificate.
(To 18th January, 1879, inclusive.)
14th January.
170. Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Wire Manufacturer, for an invention of "Improved apparatus for supplying fuel to furnaces." - Dated 15th January, 1876.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
May 16, 1879.
Patents which have become Void.
A List of the Letters Patent for Inventions which have become Void by reason of the Non-payment of the additional Stamp Duty of 50l., before the Expiration of the Third Year from the date of such Patents, pursuant to the Act of the 16 Vict., c. 5, sec. 2, for the week ending the 10th day of May, 1879.
1919. Michael Holroyd Smith, Wire Manufacturer, and John Taylor Simpson, Cabinet Maker, both of Halifax, in the county of York, for an invention of "An improved construction of combined writing table and secretaire." - Dated 6th May, 1876.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
March 19, 1880.
Patents which have become Void.
A List of the Letters Patent for Inventions which have become Void by reason of the Non-payment of the additional Stamp Duty of 50l., before the Expiration of the Third Year from the date of such Patents, pursuant to the Act of the 16 Vict., c. 5, sec. 2, for the week ending the 13th day of March, 1880.
973. Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Wire Manufacturer, for an invention of "Improvements in appliances connected with furnaces." - Dated 10th March, 1877.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
May 25, 1880.
Patents Sealed.
List of Letters Patent which passed the Great Seal on the 25th May, 1880.
4925. Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Engineer, for an invention of "Improvements in protecting metals and metallic vessels from the injurious action of other metals when at a high temperature." - Dated 2nd December, 1879.

The Commissioners of Patents Journal
November 5, 1880.
Patents which have become Void.
A List of the Letters Patent for Inventions which have become Void by reason of the Non-payment of the additional Stamp Duty of 50l., before the Expiration of the Third Year from the date of such Patents, pursuant to the Act of the 16 Vict., c. 5, sec. 2, for the week ending the 30th day of October, 1880.
3981. Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, in the county of York, Mechanical Engineer, for an invention of "Improvements in electric-magnets and in magnetic motor-engines." - Dated 27th October, 1877.

Holroyd had a wealthy neighbour, Louis John Crossley, one of the wealthy Halifax Crossley clan (older Brits might still remember "Crossley carpets.")

Louis John had an interest in all things electric for many years, and in 1882 he ran a design competition to add a complete chemical and electrical laboratory in his home...

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
February 3, 1883.

THE ELECTRICAL LABORATORY AND WORKSHOP OF MR. LOUIS J. CROSSLEY, MOOR SIDE, HALIFAX, YORKSHIRE.

Our readers will remember that during the early part of last year, a prize was offered through our columns for the best design for an Electrical Laboratory and Workshop. A large number of competitors sent us their plans, some of them being very excellent productions. In order that justice might be done to the competitors, we laid the plans before a small committee of leading electricians, requesting them, after very careful consideration, to select the best.

Although we were not at liberty at the time to state who had instructed us to offer the prize, it is now pretty well known to have been Mr. Louis J. Crossley, of Halifax, who has been taking a deep interest in electrical science for the past twenty years; and who is more recently known to our readers as the inventor of the transmitter bearing his name, and which we described in the columns of this journal, May 1st, 1879.

Mr. Crossley's original idea was to build the laboratory apart from his house - somewhere in the grounds adjoining - but ultimately it was decided to attach it to one end of the house, as shown in our sketches supplied with the present number.

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This alteration rendered it impossible to carry out in their entirety the plans selected, or indeed any of the others sent in, a new arrangement having to be made to suit the ground, and it was carried out by Mr. John Ely, of Messrs. Salomons & Ely, architects, Manchester.

In a laboratory of this nature, several important items have to be taken into account in arranging the positions and laying out the various rooms.

The electrical laboratory, for instance, must be as far away as possible from the workshop, both on account of the vibrations of the machinery and also on account of the dynamos.

The room must also be sufficiently large to permit of electric light experiments being made, and must have facilities for suspending lamps and for making photometric measurements. There must be suitable stands for galvanometers and electrometers. All wires must be so laid as to be out of the way and at the same time easy of access. All these and many other minor points appear to have been taken into account, and to have been most carefully carried out at the Moorside laboratory.

As will be seen from our special supplement, a trough runs under the floor from close to the dynamo bed in the workshop, through the chemical laboratory to one side of the electrical room, this trough being supplied with the four boxes shown in the plan. The ends of the wires at the dynamo end are brought up to a test-box, which is also the case in the electrical room, and by means of which connections are easily made. Running down the east side of the same room a table or counter is fixed, with cupboards and drawers, while the top serves to carry a most complete equipment of resistance coils, ampere and volt-meters, graduated wire "bridges," and every other instrument necessary for making electrical measurements.

Over this table are two massive stone shelves, which are built into the wall and on which rest respectively the Thompson electrometer and galvanometer, the latter being a very fine instrument by Messrs. Siemens Bros., on the Jacobs system, by which means the reflection from the mirror is brought on to a ground-glass screen which is placed in front of the operator. A similar arrangement is also attached to the electrometer.

At the south end of the room another shelf serves to carry a transit theodolite, the window here being specially constructed to enable transit observations to be made.

Suspended from the beams and running down the middle of the room, overhead, is a plank, to which are attached fixtures for carrying arc lamps, together with a neat rack arrangement for holding incandescent lamps. The wires for these lamps being led over the plank, which is easy of access, a very convenient method for experimenting with different lamps is formed.

In addition to the foregoing, this room has many other neat arrangements for facilitating experiments, which render it a most convenient electrical laboratory; and it is almost unnecessary to add that a finer equipment of apparatus we do not remember to have seen, which at the same time is not so much to be wondered at, seeing that here is a collection of apparatus acquired during a period of over twenty years, and without much regard as to expense, &c.

We next come to the chemical room, which has a good arrangement of benches, cupboards, shelves, &c, with the usual collection of balances, bottles, measures, and the hundred and one other things usually found in a well arranged laboratory. This also serves the purpose of a battery room.

Leaving the chemical laboratory, we come to the workshop, and here we find machine tools which would do credit to any of our telegraph instrument factories, the whole being driven by one of Crossley's "Otto" gas-engines of 6 H. P. nominal.

In addition to a 9-feet bed screw-cutting lathe, is a small foot lathe, capable of being worked either by foot or power; also a neat form of milling machine and a bandsaw, together with other tools too numerous to mention in the limited space at our disposal.

In this room a couple of dynamos are fixed on a somewhat novel form of iron bed laid down on concrete and ashlar insulated with asbestos. The iron bed is drilled and cut away in such a manner that in changing dynamos which may be undergoing experiment, it is only necessary to lay the dynamo down on the bed, move the pulley in line with the driving cone, and screw down with the movable bolts and clamps in the bed.

Running from the laboratory to one of the mills of Messrs. John Crossley & Sons, Limited (about two miles by wire), is a No. 9 B.W.G. copper wire, which serves to convey the current from a 16-light Brush, or a large Gramme machine, either to use as additional power in the workshop or for the tramway outside, or otherwise as may be required.

If more extensive electric light experiments are desired than those which can be made in the electrical room, every convenience is found in a lighthouse fixed on the top of the house, and shown in the drawing between the wind gauge and the chimney. This lighthouse contains a very fine holophotal lens of 15° divergence, which is shown in elevation and section on the plan.

The lens is enclosed in a lantern which is fixed to the top of a cast-iron pillar, round which it can turn freely. The top of the pillar carries a brass circle graduated to 360°, while at one side of the lantern carrying the lens and lamp another graduated circle is fixed. From this it will be seen that the horizontal and vertical movement of the lantern can be accurately measured, and the bearings of any object taken by means of the theodolite during the day can be found at night by simply obtaining the same reading for the horizontal and vertical angles of the lantern. Mr. Crossley has measured and noted the directions and distances of the most prominent objects obtainable from the lighthouse, and when any one is required, it is only necessary to refer to the table fixed alongside the lantern. It has been found that with a medium sized Siemens machine and the holophote, a light can be directed with sufficient accuracy to enable a person at a distance of one and a half miles to read a newspaper.

In addition to this somewhat novel but at the same time highly interesting electrical application, there is another scarcely less novel - viz., the tramway already named. In our supplement will be found a sketch of this with Mr. Crossley and some of his children. The car consists, as shown, of a Siemens machine mounted upon a bed on wheels, the two rails and the wheels completing the circuit through the machine. The line is laid on asphalte, having a gradient of 1 in 25, and being about 105 yards long. The Siemens machine, with the carriage on which it is mounted, weighs about 3 cwt., and with two trucks eight people can be pulled up the incline at about eight miles an hour. In order to obtain more efficient contact a copper tape is to be laid down the middle of the track instead of depending entirely on the rails, when, no doubt, even a better result than the foregoing will be obtained.

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The wind gauge seen on the top of the house is provided with contacts for sending reverse currents, which work a Wheatstone counter fixed in the electrical room. By this arrangement winding up the indicator is avoided, and false readings due to the cups of the wind gauge "backing," and thus sending an extra current are also eliminated.

We may add that the machinery in the mechanics' shop was made by Darling and Sellers, of Keighley.

At this time, Halifax decided to build tramways, and considered new options for traction to replace high-cost horse-drawn trams... Andrew Hallidie's cable car system was a contender because Halifax had a lot of hills to deal with, but Holroyd pitched the City on the new idea of using electric tramcars.

In the end Halifax awarded the work to the competing cable car syndicate, but Holroyd was now fired up about the possibilities for electric traction. By then the problems of smoke, steam, sparks and exploding boilers associated with steam power in urban environments were already a hot topic of conversation...

The British Architect
April 21, 1882

Mr. Holroyd Smith, consulting and mechanical engineer, Halifax, lecturing at the Manchester Smoke Abatement Exhibition the other day upon mechanical stokers, said it was apparent that with the existence of the various inventions there was no excuse either for waste of material or for the emission of smoke. He did not presume to decide which of the several systems he had been describing was the best, but he would point out this, that many points have to be taken into consideration - the type of boiler, the quality of coal, the quantity of water to be evaporated, the demands upon the steam as to whether it be constant or intermittent, and, what was a very important consideration, there was the inclination and the capacity of the fireman.

Holroyd approached Crossley about building a larger experimental electric tramway and Crossley gave him the run of his laboratories and estate...

Engineering
October 5, 1883

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
Last week we gave a full account of the first two days' proceedings of the British Association in so far as they appeared likely to interest our readers, and now we bring the description down to the close of the meeting...

Electric Tramways.
Mr. Holroyd Smith read a paper, which we shall shortly publish, "On Electric Tramways." He said he had been led to consider the subject on account of a proposal to introduce tramways in the town of Halifax which presented unusual difficulties owing to the narrow, tortuous, and steep character of many of the streets. Horse traction he considered out of the question there, steam was doubtful owing to the objection the public had to it, and the cable system was inapplicable in consequence of the enormous outlay it would involve, many of the roadways being of solid rock. He then gave an account of the experiments he has made, for as yet he has not gone beyond the experimental stage, and explained the plan which he had finally adopted. This is to lay a rectangular pipe or conduit underground between the rails, and to carry the electric conductors on insulated supports within it. The current is collected by a carriage provided with sliding contact pieces, and running in the conduit, and is conducted to the motor on the car by a bracket projecting through a slot running lengthwise of the top of the conduit, like that which in the cable system permits of the passage of the gripping arm. The motor is connected by gearing with a large and broad driving wheel, which travels on the top of the central conduit. There was no discussion.

Engineering
October 19, 1883

ELECTRIC TRACTION ON TRAMWAYS.

A NEW SYSTEM OF ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS.*
By Mr. Holroyd Smith.
* Abstract of paper read before the British Association at Southport.

In endeavouring to make electricity practically applicable for haulage on tramways named, the author started with the following propositions:

1. Safety to the public.
2. Protection of the electric force.
3. Tractive efficiency.

He said that it was perhaps hardly necessary to remark that wherever the conductors are exposed, whether as rails or side bars, liability to accident exists, and further that not only is there a loss by leakage through the earth but the line is also subject to be short-circuited accidentally.

Without discussing the systems already tried it is perhaps sufficient to say that the propositions laid down seemed to the author to have their solution by the simple expedient of employing a central channel to contain the wires or bands conveying the electric force and effecting the haulage by means of a large wheel with a broad face running upon the surface of that channel.

To test his proposal the author laid a line 50 yards long 3 ft. gauge, and placed upon it a rough truck illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3.

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Copper bands were laid within the channel, and upon them ran a wooden trolly. Connexion was made between the trolly and the track by means of a box or frame shutting upon it. The car and gearing were of a rudimentary character, the main wheel was 4 ft. in diameter, and 7 in. wide. The electric motor employed was a Siemens D 3 dynamo, and though this was far too small a motor for such a load, viz., 1 ton, the whole moss moved slowly up the gradient of 1 in 20. Afterwards the author laid a fresh line nearly 100 yards in length, gauge 18 in., and made a car as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. The same Siemens D 3 machine was employed as before.

The gear consists of a brass pinion upon the axis of the dynamo gearing into a lantern wheel with wooden pegs in lieu of teeth. This wheel is free to revolve upon its shaft and is fitted with a frictional clutch actuated by the two handwheels, one on either side of the car. Upon the same shaft is keyed a pinion gearing with another lantern wheel attached to and forming part of the main driving wheel, which is 2 ft. diameter and 4 in. wide. The face of this driving wheel consists partly of wood and partly of a special material to insure hold upon the central track. The brake is actuated by a treadle under the control of the driver's foot. The switch for connecting ond disconnecting the electricity is attached to the dashboard in front. The track is constructed of planking as shown. Transverse sleepers are laid upon the asphalte walk, and upon them rest four longitudinal spars, the middle ones forming the sides of the central channel, and with the two outer spars support the top boarding, which consists of cross planking so laid as to leave a 1/2 in. space over the centre of the mid-channel. The tramrails consist merely of 1 1/4 in. angle iron screwed to the surface of the planking.

The conductors laid in this track consist of copper bands 3/16 by 5/16; brass discs are soldered to them at intervals, these discs have small holes punched in them and form a ready method of attaching the conducting band's to the bottom sleepers. The collecting trolly consisted of two brass side frames insulated from each other by a block of wood; in each end of these fittings work guide or carrier wheels, and attached to the sides are cases containing slippers or skids free to rise and fall, this to insure contact in case of unevenness in the track or from vibration. Each brass frame has upon one end an upright plate or flat bar long enough and thin enough to pass through the slit in the top of the track. As the track in this instance consists of wood it was not necessary to insulate these plates, the electricity therefore collected by their respective wheels to slippers is ready for connexion with the motor on the car by means of insulated copper wires. This trolly is made to travel with the car by simply passing a wooden bar between the two upright plates, the bar being held in fixings attached to the side frames of the car.

The entire weight of the car with dynamo and gear is 16 cwts. The track, as before stated, is on a gradient averaging 1 in 20.

As regards the practical results obtained the author stated that though it is as much as three men can do to push the empty car up the steep hill, yet the electricity was so collected and used as to run it up at a moderate speed with six adults in the car - total weight, say, 24 cwt. The author gave a description of one, illustrated by Fig. 6, which is a section of a tramway. A A is the surface of the road, B a transverse sleeper upon which the rails rest, C C the ordinary tram rails, D the central channel consisting of rolled or cast-iron girders of the form shown. At intervals along the channel are bolted brass chairs on vulcanite blocks. These chairs are made to hold galvanised angle iron in the manner shown, and the same key that holds the angle iron also grips a copper wire; by this combination a firm track is formed for the trolly, and the electrical resistance is minimised.

Engineering
October 19, 1883

"ENGINEERING" ILLUSTRATED PATENT RECORD.
ABSTRACTS OF SPECIFICATIONS PUBLISHED DURING THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 13, 1883
1014. Tramways and Apparatus for Propelling Tram Cars by Electric or Steam Engines: M. H. Smith, Halifax. [1s. 2d. 20 Figs.) - Conductors: The conductor is laid in a channel placed midway between the ordinary side rails. The central rail is hollow, being formed by two I plate girders or channel irons placed side by side, and having on their inner sides a protecting ledge or shelve on which the conductors are laid and insulated from the rail. The two plates are sunk in the ground and rest upon sleepers, their upper surfaces forming a central rail. The contact maker is mounted upon a small trolley which runs upon the conducting bands within the hollow rails; a metal plate on the trolley passes through an opening between the upper parts of the two I plates, and carries the conductors to and from the motor. A large diameter driving wheel on the main shaft of the motor runs on the central line of rails. This invention will be fully described and illustrated in an early issue. (February 24,1883).

Scientific American Supplement
November 17, 1883

A NEW SYSTEM OF ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS
By M. Holroyd Smith, C.E.
(Paper read before the British Association, Southport meeting, September, 1883.)

The proposal to lay tramways in Halifax excited my attention as an engineer; and as our town presents unusual difficulties, owing to the narrow, tortuous, and steep streets, it became necessary to consider the best means of coping with them. Horse traffic was, prima facie, out of the question, owing to the cost of horse flesh and cruelty to animals. Steam was questionable, first, on account of the growing public objection thereto, and, secondly, the danger incident to running heavy engines up and down steep gradients in crowded streets. The cable system, though an admirable one in its way, and calculated to overcome the natural obstacles of a hilly district, seems in my opinion inapplicable, owing to the enormous outlay it would involve (many of our roadways being of solid rock), the great cost of working,

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Fig. 1.—Side Elevation of Experimental Electric Truck.

and the small traffic to be expected. Pneumatic engines being open to objections similar to steam, my thoughts naturally turned to electricity. Such rapid strides have been made of late in the development of this wonderful agency that it has now arrived at that state when it may be considered among the numerous facts and forces at the disposal of the engineer. In endeavoring to make electricity practically applicable for the purpose named, I started with the following propositions: First, safety to the public; secondly, protection of the electric force; thirdly, tractive efficiency. It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to remark that

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Fig. 2.—End Elevation of Experimental Electric Truck.

wherever the conductors are exposed, whether as rails or side bars, liability to accident exists; and, further, that not only is there a loss by leakage through the earth, but the line is also subject to be short circuited accidentally. The system advocated by Professors Ayrton and Perry, though probably admirable from an electrician's point of view, seems to me to be wanting in practicability and open to minor defects. Without discussing the systems already tried, it is perhaps sufficient to say that the propositions laid down seemed to me to have their solution in the simple expedient of employing a central channel to contain the wires or bands conveying the electric force, and effecting the haulage by means of a large wheel with a broad face running upon the surface of that channel. After carefully working out designs and making such calculations as lack of data permitted me to do, I proceeded to make experiments for the purpose of testing my theories. First, as to the comparative efficiency of the large wheel versus small ones. I laid a short length of rails in a warehouse with a flagstone floor, gauge 2 ft. 9 in., and constructed a rough truck with two small wheels and one large central one. The large wheel was 3 ft. diameter, 6 in. wide, and the two small ones were each 12 in. diameter, 1 1/4 in. wide. The truck weighed exactly half a ton, and was so proportioned that 5 cwt. came upon the large wheel and 5 cwt. upon the small wheels; both axles were fitted with gear so that either could be moved. To the end of the car a rope was tied, and passed under a

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Fig. 3.—Section of Smith's Electric Tramcar.

pulley fixed to the ground, and thence over a pulley hung from a beam above. To the end of this rope weights were applied, and the small wheels made to revolve. The truck moving forward drew the rope and lifted the weights. The load was gradually increased until it reached 1 cwt., when the wheels began to slip; at 1 cwt. and 14 lb. they simply revolved round and round and would lift no more. Motion was then transferred to the large wheel, and the weights again applied until the lead reached 3 cwt. 3 qrs., when the tackle gave way, there being not the slightest slip. I considered this result sufficiently satisfactory to make it unnecessary to renew the tackle. My next experiment was also a rough one to test the possibility of collecting the electricity from the central channel and converting it into dynamic

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Fig. 4.—Plan of Smith's Electric Tramcar.

force to drive the large wheel. I therefore laid a line 50 yards long. 3 ft. gauge, and placed upon it a rough truck, illustrated in Diagrams 1 and 2. The truck was simply made of rough planks, as illustrated, and was laid in the grounds of Moorside, the residence of L. J. Crossley, Esq., who kindly placed at my disposal his electrical apparatus and permitted me the use of his admirably-fitted workshop. Copper bands similar to those used for lightning conductors were laid within the channel, and upon them ran a wooden trolley, part of which I now show you. Connection was made between the trolley and the truck by means of a box or frame shutting upon it, the box used being here for examination. The car and gearing were of a rudimentary character; the main wheel was 4 ft. diameter, 7 in. wide The electric motor employed in the first instance was one of Siemens' medium dynamos, but from some defect it would hardly revolve alone, though the electricity from a Gramme machine was conducted to it with little loss. I then took a Siemens D 3 dynamo, and modified the gear, and, though this was far too small a motor for such a load, viz., one ton, the whole mass moved slowly up the gradient of 1 in 20. This experiment was sufficiently satisfactory to lead me to further efforts, I therefore laid a fresh line nearly 100 yards in length up the same walk, gauge 18 inches, and made a car as illustrated in Diagrams 3 and 4. The same Siemens D 3 machine was employed as before. The gear consists of a brass pinion upon the axis of the dynamo, gearing into a lantern wheel, with wooden pegs in lieu of teeth. This wheel is free to revolve upon its shaft, and is fitted with a frictional clutch actuated by the two hand wheels, one on either side of the car. Upon the same shaft is keyed a pinion gearing, with another lantern wheel attached to and forming part of the main driving wheel, which is 2 ft. diameter and 4 in.

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Fig. 5.—Showing Construction of the Track used for Electric Tramcar.

wide. The face of this driving wheel consists partly of wood and partly of a special material, to insure hold upon the central track. The brake is actuated by a treadle under the control of the driver's foot. The switch for connecting and disconnecting the electricity is attached to the dashboard in front. The track is constructed of planking, as shown in diagram No. 5; transverse sleepers are laid upon the asphalt walk, and upon them rest four longitudinal spars, the middle ones forming the sides of the central channel, and with the two outer spars support the top boarding, which consist of cross planking, so laid as to leave half-inch space over the center of the mid-channel. Every third board or covering plank is screwed down; the rest are nailed. This was done to facilitate removal in case of mishap. The tramrails consist merely of 1 1/4 in. angle iron screwed to the surface of the planking. The conductors laid in this track consist of copper bands, 3/16 by 3/16; brass disks are soldered to them at intervals. These disks have small holes punched in them and form a ready method of attaching the conducting bands to the bottom sleepers. The collecting trolley used is upon the table, and consists of two brass slide frames insulated from each other by a block of wood. In each end of these fixings work guide or carrier wheels, and attached to the sides are cases containing slippers or skids free to rise fall - this to insure contact in case of unevenness in the track or from vibration. Each brass frame has upon one end an upright plate or flat bar long enough and thin enough to pass through the slit in the top of the track. As the track in this instance consisted of wood, it was not necessary to insulate these plates. The electricity, therefore, collected by their respective wheels and slippers is ready for connection with the motor on the car by means of insulated copper wires. This trolley is made to travel with the car by simply passing a wooden bar between the two upright plates, the bar being held in fixings attached to the side frames of the car. The entire weight of the car with dynamo and gear is 16 cwt. The track, as before stated, is on a gradient averaging 1 in 22.

I do not propose to give you a tabulated list of amperes, volts, and ohms, curves of results, etc. These matters are rendered sufficiently interesting by those who make them a specialty. It is, I assume, practical results that are most wished for, and I therefore content myself with saying that though it is as much as three men can do to push the empty car up this steep hill, yet the electricity was so collected and used as to run it up at a moderate speed with six adults in the car. Total weight, say 24 cwt. It may be argued that the demonstration made is simply an experiment, and that there are many details inapplicable to daily work. Such a statement I am prepared at once to admit, viz., the demonstration so far is an experiment, but a most successful one. And I now propose to show how some of the details may be modified for actual daily use on a large scale. In respect to the car itself, perhaps enough has been said to show the principle involved and its practicability. As to the best electric motor to be used, that I admit is a debatable subject. Though not professing to be an electrician, I must confess that no electric motor that has yet come under my notice fulfills

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Fig. 6.—Section of proposed Tram Line on Smith's Patent, showing one rail and the central channel, with conductors.

what I conceive to be possible, or is constructed in a way calculated to make the best use of known forces. Again, as to gear, though I took care to test by experiment the strength of the wooden pegs used in lantern wheels, and found them practically applicable, and leaving sufficient margin of strength, and though their employment overcomes the objectionable noise, and forms a wheel easily repaired by an ordinary mechanic, yet, owing to the high speed at which electric motors must necessarially run, I hold it advisable to employ some form of compound differential frictional gear, and have therefore made experiments to that end, but they are not yet sufficiently advanced to bring before the notice of this society. Again, as to the surface of the traction wheel, I confine myself to the statement that it is of special material. Experience alone must determine how far it is suitable for the wear and tear of every day work; therefore I refrain at present from giving a precise description. Respecting the track, though I have designed and patented many modifications thereof, it is perhaps sufficient to give a description of one, and this I have endeavored to illustrate by Diagram No. 6, which is a section of a tramway. The rails rest on transverse sleepers, and the central channel consists of rolled or cast-iron girders of the form shown. At intervals along

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Fig. 7.—Elevation and plan of Collecting Trolley

the channel are bolted brass chairs on vulcanite blocks. These chairs are made to hold galvanized angle iron in the manner shown, and the same key that holds the angle iron also gripes a copper wire. By this combination a firm track is formed for the trolley, and the electrical resistance is minimized. I would also point out that copper wires might be used only for the leading conductor, return circuit being made by means of the metal of the channel itself. Ril'S or flanges could be rolled or cast upon them for the wheels of the trolley to run upon. Wells connected with the street drains are placed at intervals to collect and carry away any water that may accumulate, and also to permit of the channel being occasionally flushed. Respecting the trolley, upon the table will be found a drawing (Fig 7) illustrating one suitable for a full sized line. The channel in which it would have to run being of iron, the upright plates are distinct from the side frames, and they have channels formed in them in which insulated copper bands attached respectively to each side frame are placed. The electricity can thus be gathered from the conductors and passed to the car without short circuiting through the channel. To insure good contact with the conducting bands or rails, in addition to the guide wheels and in lieu of the slippers or skids a number of wheels are placed down each side of the trolley. These wheels are free to rise and fall in their bearings, which are so attached to the frames that the axis of the wheels may be placed at any angle with the line of motion, thus causing frictional as well as rolling contact between the periphery of these wheels and the rails, the relation between the frictional and rolling contact being adjustable. I will not weary you with any further details, but take this opportunity of stating that, with the assistance of those associated with me, I am prepared to construct a full sized tram line in any public street, or to convert existing lines into electric lines in accordance with my system, and to guarantee success, and I sincerely hope before the next annual meeting of this honorable association to be able to report progress.

Pics of Holroyds' first build:

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Holroyd-Smith_Moorside1.jpg (66.69 KiB) Viewed 1085 times

There's Holroyd!

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Dunno if he had a sense of humour, but he's looking very Monty Python-esque there...

Anyway Holroyd, nice work!

[Lock]

I don't think this partnership lasted very long...

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
February 23, 1884.

NOTES.
A New Firm. - Mr. Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, and Mr. C. Baker, recently with Messrs. Blakey, Emmott & Co., have commenced business as telegraph engineers and electricians at Cornbrook Telegraph Works, Manchester. Mr. Smith is already well known in connection with electrical tramways, and at the last meeting of the British Association he read a paper on that subject.

The Electrical World
May 10, 1884

OUR ILLUSTRATED RECORD OF ELECTRICAL PATENTS.
PATENTS DATED APRIL 22, 1884.
Apparatus to be Used in Electric Rail or Tramway Systems; Michael Holroyd Smith, of
Halifax, County of York, England 297,806
Consists in modifications, by the application of which the use of trolleys or bogies may be dispensed with, as the conductors are formed of more or less longitudinally-slotted tube-shaped sections, in which suitable shuttles and spring-collectors are caused to travel, the current being passed from such collectors to the driving-motor by means of suitable connections.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
June 21, 1884.

ABSTRACTS OF PUBLISHED SPECIFICATIONS, 1883.
5065. "Transmitting electric energy to tram or railway cars." M. H. Smith. Dated October 24. 1s. 2d. This invention relates to improved apparatus for conducting and for collecting the electricity for supplying the motor or electric engine of railway or tramcars being further additions to or improvements in apparatus described in the specification of Letters Patent granted to the inventor dated February 24, 1883, No. 1014. According to this invention, the inventor places within the channel described in the above-recited specification, but insulated therefrom, a metal tube having a slit or opening running throughout its length, and within the tube is placed a collector or shuttle composed of two heads or points, connected by spiral or other springs, and a spindle passing within the springs and hollows formed in the heads or points. The shuttle is operated by a plate or plates passing through the slit in the tube, and the parts are so arranged that when the shuttle is moved in either direction, the friction against the inside of the tube tends to expand the spring or springs, thus insuring electric contact. The electricity can be conveyed to the tram car or engine, and the shuttle made to travel with it, by slight modification of any of the various methods described in patent 101483. In another construction metal plates are placed upon either side of the channel, but insulated therefrom; these plates may be plain or flanged, and between them runs a collector trolley - alternate wheels on this trolley press upon or against the right or left hand plates - the axis of the wheels may be vertical or slightly depart therefrom, to ensure ffictional contact, and contact is further ensured by means of a wire or tape so threaded between the brushes or bearings of the wheels, that when drawn by means of a screw and spiral, or other spring, the wheels are forced outwards and against the conducting plates. Or the framework supporting the wheels may consist of a series of knuckle joints, so arranged that when the trolly is pushed forward the wheels are forced outward and into contact with the electric conductor or conductors.

Meanwhile, off to the west the seaside resort of Blackpool was a major summertime destination for English folks, and the Mayor and City Council were a forward looking bunch... In 1878 they built the Winter Gardens as a major party palace. In 1879 they installed a string of arc lights along the boardwalk which was a huge attraction (waaaay brighter than the old gas lighting.)

On June 2nd, 1884 Blackpool opened a miniature electric railway on the grounds of the Winter Gardens. No record of who designed and built the thing, but it didn't work very well, and the builder did a disappearing act.

Holroyd got the contract to fix the thing and he got it running in good order. Good work Holroyd!

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...and this got the Mayor and Council thinking about converting their horse tramway along the boardwalk to electric... And Holroyd kept up with his experiments.


The British Architect
July 18, 1884

A Practical test of a new system of applying electricity to the propulsion of tramway cars took place on Tuesday at Manchester. The system is that of Mr. Holroyd Smith, engineer, of Halifax. In a field at Cornbrook tramway rails of the ordinary gauge and size had been laid, upon which a car capable of holding about twenty people was run, the motive force being electricity applied on Mr. Smith's system. The electricity was generated at the telegraph works of Messrs. Smith, Baker, & Co., and was conveyed by stout wires to the conductor, which consists of two half-tubes laid a few feet below the ground, in the middle of the track, and extending the whole length of the rails. Within the half tubes there moves a collector, consisting of small rollers, which are pressed by a spring against the sides of the tubes. The collector travels with the car, and conveys the electricity from the conductor to an ordinary electric motor fixed below the floor of ihe car. The electric motor is attached by a chain to the axle of the wheels, and works the car. There is an arrangement by which the electric current is taken through the wheels to the rails, which form the return circuit. The car as it moved along was perfectly under control. It has differential gear, which enables it to go round curves, and a special arrangement, consisting of a broad wheel travelling on the centre rail, to enable it to climb hills. The electric power exerted to move the car when fully loaded was equal to about two-and-a half horses. The trial was considered successful. It is stated that the cost of the system is about 2d. per car per mile travelled, which is understood to be much less than the cost of the horse system.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
July 26, 1884

An Electric Tramway. - Mr. M. Holroyd Smith, engineer, of Halifax, has recently been engaged upon the task of applying electricity to tramway purposes, and a few days ago he gave an exhibition of the results of his labours. A temporary line of the ordinary gauge (4 ft. 8 1/2 in.), and about 100 yards in length, had been laid down, and a car capable of accommodating about 20 persons stood on the metals. The current was supplied in the first instance by a large dynamo machine, driven by steam power. In the middle of the tramway track was a third rail with a narrow slot or groove, below which were two half tubes of copper, about three inches apart, forming the electric conductor. Within the conductor was placed the collector. The collector moved as the car moved, conveying the electric current to the motor beneath the floor of the car; and the motor, as it revolved, turned the car wheels. The collector consists, practically, of two small grooved rollers. The frame holding them has knuckle joints, actuated by springs, the effect of which is to keep the rollers constantly pressing against the sides of the conductor, and a good contact is always maintained. From the collector the electric current is carried by two insulated copper wires to the motor. The motor is of the usual pattern, and revolves at a high velocity. The power which it exerts is brought to bear upon the wheels of the car through the medium of invert wheels, in box gearing, so that the proper speed may be obtained. The wheels are fitted with differential gearing to enable the car to be taken round curves, and for hilly districts it would have a means of ascending steep gradients. The arrangement for steep roads consists, practically, of a large centre wheel running on the middle rail. To guard against the groove filling with dirt a channel would be made several inches below the metals, and at various distances sump holes would be dug. The wheels of the collector would thus regularly clear out refuse into the channel below, and this in turn would be washed into the sump holes, whence it would be easy of removal. Another advantage claimed for the principle is that the car runs as well when the metals are wet as in dry weather, and a shower or two during the trial tested this. The turning of a small handle set the car in motion. The speed varied from six to 12 miles an hour; had the track been larger a still higher speed could have been attained. The car was under perfect control, and, with the assistance of the brake, could be stopped very quickly. To move one car would require about 2 1/2-horse power, and Mr. Smith estimates that the cost per car per mile would be about 2d., whereas now the average cost of running tramcars is said to be 10 1/2d. In the event of the system being adopted for towns there would require to be central stations, one such station serving a distance of about three miles. Of the cost Mr. Smith speaks quite confidently. The system will probably be tried in Southport, and Mr. Smith has also been requested to furnish a small tramway for the Winter Gardens, Blackpool.

Proceedings of
The American Association for the Advancement of Science
Thirty-Third Meeting
Held at Philadephia, Penn.
September, 1884

Electric Tramways. By M. Holroyd Smith, Fern Hill, Halifax, England.
[ABSTRACT.]
(Mr. Smith not being present the paper was read by Mr. Preece. Abstract by the Secretary.)

To demonstrate the practicability of Mr. Smith's system of electric tramways an experimental line has been laid in a field near the works of Messrs. Smith, Baker & Co., Manchester, England. The track is 110 yards long and 4' 8 1/2" gauge; it is essentially level and the car is driven by the traction of the ordinary wheels, but it contains some sharp curves. On the latter account one wheel on each axle is loose and the power is distributed between the two wheels on the axle by differential bevel gears, so that both wheels drive equally well on curves and straight line. The movable bevel gear in this arrangement is driven by a steel chain from a Siemens motor and the current is brought up from an underground conduit, which forms the main feature of the line. This conduit is constructed in much the same manner as a cable line, with a copper conductor in place of the cable. This copper conductor is double and consists of two half tubes, - as if a tube had been cut in two lengthwise and vertically and the two halves separated somewhat from each other. In this tube, then, a shoe slides, being connected both electrically and by leather straps with the car, the leather straps breaking should the shoe be accidentally obstructed, as by pebbles jammed in the groove. The rubbing part of the shoe, or shuttle, consists of spirally-grooved rollers, whose axis is that of the tube, and whose slow revolution, caused by friction, keeps the tube cleaned out perfectly. The rails answer for the return current. This method of supplying the electrical current to the cars is so successful, and the conductor is so well protected in the underground channel, that after a week's rain the leakage, if any, was so small that the improved contact of the moist shoe prevented any difference from showing in the speed of the cars.

(It would seem that this system would be specially fitted to replace the cable system so soon as a sufficient economy of power can be shown in its favor.)

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
October 18, 1884

Mr. Holroyd Smith's Electric Car.- Last week the members of the Manchester Association of Employers and Foremen made an inspection of the new electric tramcar and line which has been constructed by Mr. Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, and put down experimentally in an open field in the outskirts of Manchester. The whole arrangement of the car and tram line was generally commended by the members as one likely to open the way for a simple and practicable application of electricity to tramway traffic.

Liverpool Engineering Society
Tenth Session
Ninth Meeting, 22nd October, 1884

The following Lecture was then delivered hy Mr. M. Holroyd Smith, entitled

THE DEVELOPMENT OE AN ELECTRIC TRAMWAY.

I am bound to say, in self defence, that I have no paper to read. When your Secretary asked me to read a paper before this Society, I told him my time was so occupied that I really could not spare any to put down in black and white what I had to say, but I should be pleased to come and give an account of my electrical researches and experiments. I hope, therefore, that you will accept this apology in case my remarks appear disconnected, or I occasionally make unnecessary repetitions. May I also ask your indulgence because my principal diagrams are not here to-night. Another matter on which I must please ask your courtesy is that, through early rising and sitting up late, I find I am in anything but good health this evening. I have to speak to you as a society of engineers: I claim the privilege of being an engineer myself - I believe I was one from my cradle - and, therefore, as this is a society of engineers and not electricians, I purpose speaking to you not of the theory of electricity but its practical use. I hold it is our duty to take the forces of nature and the discoveries of science, and to shape and fashion them to some useful end. Therefore I have not to deal with the question whether we should have an alteration in the measurement of resistance, nor have I to deal with the precise amount of electrical efficiency, as compared with mechanical efficiency in connection with the creation of electric energy and its conversion back again. Were I addressing the Society of Telegraphic Engineers, that would be the phase of the subject I would endeavour to treat. When asked to give the title of my paper, I thought of the one announced, because, if I spoke of electric railways, or the employment of electricity for tramway purposes, it would necessitate a review of the world's work, and that would be a work much better done by some one else. But claiming to have made some advance and to have opened the gate, if but a little, to a new field of engineering usefulness, I must ask you to bear with me whilst I speak of my work and endeavour to forget myself in my work. My remarks will be pretty much a repetition or enlargement of my papers read before the British Association at Southport last year, and at Montreal this year, with some account of what may be called the interregnum. What first directed my attention as an engineer to the construction of tramways was a proposal to lay them in my native town of Halifax. Inasmuch as the streets there are very steep, narrow and twisted, I saw that horse traffic was out of the question; for, to take an ordinary full-sized tramcar up a gradient of 1 in 20 for two miles, was too much to expect from horses. Again, that very steepness - some of the gradients being 1 in 16, some 1 in 12 - made it impossible safely to run down with steam traction engines. I thought at any rate it was prudent that some other plan should be considered.

A prominent one brought before the Halifax people at that time - and the reason why it was is too long to discuss here - was the Hallidie cable system; but, owing to the rocky nature of our roads and the fact that most of the gas pipes and sewers are only a little distance below the surface of the road, as well as on account of the winding nature of the roads, I assumed, and publicly stated, that the cost of laying the Hallidie system in such a town as Halifax would be so costly as not to be carried out. I said it would take £15,000 a mile to lay the system in that town; and this statement, which was then laughed at, has been fully borne out by events. If neither horses, nor steam, nor ropes could be used, nor pneumatic power - for the same objection of weight of engines in descending applies to it as to steam power - one naturally turned to electricity. It was not a new study for me, because I had been somewhat interested in electricity from my youth upwards, and intimately connected with it professionally and pecuniarily for the last eight or ten years. I set myself these three questions :- How to provide for (1) safety of the public, (2) the protection of the electric force, and (3) tractive efficiency? In addition I had to deal with the steep gradients of which I have spoken.

Without discussing the systems already tried, it is, perhaps, sufficient to say that the propositions laid down seemed to me to have their solution in the simple expedient of employing a central channel to contain the wires or bands conveying the electric force, and effecting the haulage by means of a large wheel with a broad face running upon the surface of that channel. After carefully working out designs and making such calculations as lack of data permitted me to do, I proceeded to make experiments for the purpose of testing my theories. First, as to the comparative efficiency of the large wheel versus small ones. I laid a short length of rails in a warehouse with a flagstone floor, gauge 2 ft. 9 in., and constructed a rough truck with two small wheels and one large central one. The large wheel was 3 ft. diameter, 6 in. wide, and the two small ones were each 12 in. diameter, 1 1/4 in. wide. The truck weighed exactly half a ton, and was so proportioned that 5 cwt. came upon the large wheel and 5 cwt. upon the small wheels; both axles were fitted with gear so that either could be moved. To the end of the car a rope was tied, and passed under a pulley fixed to the ground, and thence over a pulley hung from a beam above. To the end of this rope weights were applied, and the small wheels made to revolve. The truck moving forward drew the rope and lifted the weights. The load was gradually increased until it reached 1 cwt., when the wheels began to slip; at 1 cwt. and 141b. they simply revolved round and round and would lift no more. Motion was then transferred to the large wheel, and the weights again applied until the load reached 3 cwt. 3 qrs., when the tackle gave way, there being not the slightest slip. I considered this result sufficiently satisfactory to make it unnecessary to renew the tackle. My next experiment was also a rough one to test the possibility of collecting the electricity from the central channel and converting it into dynamic force to drive the large wheel. I therefore laid a line 50 yards long, 3 ft. gauge, and placed upon it a rough truck. The track was simply made of rough planks, and was laid in the grounds of Moorside, the residence of J. L. Crossley, Esq., who kindly placed at my disposal his electrical apparatus, and permitted me the use of his admirably fitted workshop. Copper bands similar to those used for lightning conductors were laid within the channel, and upon them ran a wooden trolley, part of which I now show you. Connection was made between the trolley and the truck by means of a box or frame shutting upon it, the box used being here for examination. The car and gearing were of a rudimentary character, the main wheel was 4 ft. diameter, 7 in. wide. The electric motor employed in the first instance was one of Siemen's medium dynamos, but from some defect it would hardly revolve alone, though the electricity from a Gramme machine was conducted to it with little loss. I then took a Siemen's D 3 dynamo, and modified the gear, and, though this was far too small a motor for such a load, viz., one ton, the whole mass moved slowly up the gradient of 1 in 16. This experiment was sufficiently satisfactory to lead me to further efforts; I therefore laid a fresh line nearly 100 yards in length up the same walk, gauge 18 inches, and made a car as illustrated in diagrams 1 and 2.

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The same Siemen's D 3 machine was employed as before. The gear consists of a brass pinion upon the axis of the dynamo, gearing into a lantern wheel, with wooden pegs in lieu of teeth (though I took care to test by experiment the strength of the wooden pegs used in the lantern wheels, and found them practically applicable, and leaving sufficient margin of strength, and though their employment overcomes the objection of noise, and forms a wheel easily repaired by an ordinary mechanic, yet, owing to the high speed at which electric motors must necessarily run, I hold it advisable to employ some form of compound differential frictional gear, and have, therefore, made experiments to that end, but they are not yet sufficiently advanced to bring before the notice of this society). The first lantern wheel is free to revolve upon its shaft, and is fitted with a frictional clutch actuated by the two hand wheels, one on either side of the car. Upon the same shaft is keyed a pinion gearing, with another lantern wheel attached to and forming part of the main driving wheel, which is 2 ft. diameter and 4 in. wide. The face of this driving wheel consists partly of wood and partly of a special material, to insure hold upon the central track. The brake is actuated by a treadle under the control of the driver's foot. The switch for connecting and disconnecting the electricity is attached to the dashboard in front. The track is constructed of planking, as shown in diagram No. 3,

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transverse sleepers are laid upon the asphalte walk, and upon them rest four longitudinal spars, the middle ones forming the sides of the central channel, and with the two outer spars support the top boarding, which consists of cross planking, so laid as to leave a half-inch space over the centre of the mid-channel. Every third board or covering plank is screwed down, the rest are nailed. This was done to facilitate removal in case of mishap. The tram-rails consist merely of 1 1/4 in. angle iron screwed to the surface of the planking. The conductors laid in this track consist of copper bands 3-16 in. by 5-16 in., brass discs are soldered to them at intervals. These discs have small holes punched in them, and form a ready method of attaching the conducting bands to the bottom sleepers. The collecting trolley used is upon the table (illustrated in figs. 4 and 5),

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and it consists of two brass side frames insulated from each other by a block of wood. In each end of these fixings work guide or carrier wheels, and attached to the sides are cases containing slippers or skids free to rise and fall - this to insure contact in case of unevenness in the track or from vibration. Each brass frame has upon one end an upright plate or flat bar, long enough and thin enough to pass through the slit in the top of the track. As the track in this instance consisted of wood, it was not necessary to insulate these plates. The electricity, therefore, collected by their respective wheels and slippers is ready for connection with the motor on the car by means of insulated copper wires. This trolley is made to travel with the car by simply passing a wooden bar between the two upright plates, the bar being held in fixings attached to the side frames of the car. The entire weight of the car with dynamo and gear is 16 cwt., and though it is as much as three men can do to push the empty car up this steep hill, yet the electricity was so collected and used as to run it up at a moderate speed with six adults in the car. Total weight, say 24 cwt.

This experiment was so satisfactory that it led me to design many modifications for carrying it into actual practice: it is, perhaps, sufficient to give a description of one, and this I have endeavoured to illustrate by diagrams Nos. 6a and 6b, which is a section of a tramway. The

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rails rest on transverse sleepers, and the central channel consists of rolled or cast-iron girders of the form shown: At intervals along tho channel are bolted brass chairs on vulcanite blocks. These chairs are made to hold galvanised angle iron in the manner shown, and the same key that holds the angle iron also grips a copper wire. By this combination a firm track is formed for the trolley, and the electrical resistance is minimised. I would also point out that copper wires might be used only for the leading conductor, return circuit being made by means of the metal of the channel itself. Ribs or flanges could be rolled or cast upon them for the wheels of the trolley to run upon. Respecting the trolley, upon the wall is a drawing (Fig. 7) illustrating one

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suitable for a full sized line. The channel in which it would have to run being of iron, the upright plates are distinct from the side frames, and they have channels formed in them in which insulated copper bands attached respectively to each side frame are placed. The electricity can thus be gathered from the conductors and passed to the car without short circuiting through the channel. To ensure good contact with the conducting bands or rails, in addition to the guide wheels and in lieu of the slippers or skids, a number of wheels are placed down each side of the trolley. These wheels are free to rise and fall in their bearings, which are so attached to the frames that the axles of the wheels may be placed at any angle with the line of motion, thus causing frictional as well as rolling contact between the periphery of these wheels and the rails, the relation between the frictional and rolling contact being adjustable.

This plan was never put into practice, because I foresaw that in wet weather, should the channel be filled with water, the current would pass from one conductor to the other, and so short circuit when both are in the central channel. I therefore resolved to use the channel for the forward current, and to employ the rails for the return current, and hit upon the idea of employing a tube with a shuttle running inside it. I afterwards discovered this to be the practice of Sir William Siemens for lines for conductors overhead, but my modifications were such as to warrant the German office giving me a patent; and any one who has had any experience of that office will know how difficult it is to persuade them to take anything that is English. I want you to mark this, an essential principle which has been much neglected in every instance of electric railway before, namely, that you must make and maintain a uniformly good electric contact during the time the car is running. It is one of the problems an engineer must set himself to work out. Fearing that the speed of the shuttle which I was going to put in the tube might interfere with the contact, I set myself to determine how to make the force of contact increase in proportion to the speed. For this purpose I constructed the shuttle with two heads connected together by spiral springs. Each head had a thin plate attached to it, passing through the slit in the tube, and these plates terminated in a boss with round holes, through which passed a rod having a clip at either end, and provided with set hoops so adjusted, that whichever way the rod was drawn the hinder head was acted upon, the forward head being forced forward by the pressure and expansion of the spiral springs. It follows, therefore, that according to the speed at which the shuttle travels, the frictional resistance, the expanding the spirals, good contact is maintained.

Practical men know well that there is a wide difference between a model and a full-sized machine, and when I decided to construct a full-sized tramcar and lay out a full-sized track, I found it necessary to make many alterations of detail, my chief difficulty being so to design my work as to facilitate construction and allow of compensation for inaccuracy of workmanship.

In order to satisfy the directors of a tramway company of the practical nature of my system before disturbing their lines, I have laid, in a field near the works of Messrs. Smith, Baker & Co., Manchester, a track 110 yards long, 4 ft. 8 1/2 in. gauge, and constructed a full-sized street tramcar to run thereon. My negotiations being with a company in a town where there are no steep gradients, and where the coefficient of friction of ordinary wheels would be sufficient for all tractive purposes, I thought it better to avoid the complication involved in employing a large central wheel with a broad surface specially designed for hilly districts, and with which I had mounted a gradient of one in sixteen.

But as the line in question was laid with all the curves unnecessarily quick, even those in the "pass-byes," I thought it expedient to employ differential gear, as illustrated at D, fig. 8,

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which is a sketch-plan showing the mechanism employed. M is a Siemens electric-motor running at 650 revolutions per minute; E is a combination of box-gearing, frictional clutch and chain pinion, and from this pinion a steel chain passes round the chain-wheel, H, which is free to revolve upon the axle, and carries within it the differential pinion, gearing with the bevel-wheel, B2, keyed upon the sleeve of the loose tram-wheel, T2, and with the bevel-wheel, B1, keyed upon the axle, to which the other tram-wheel, T1, is attached. To the other tram-wheels no gear is connected; one of them is fast to the axle, and the other runs loose, but to them the break is applied in the usual manner.

The electric current from the collector passes, by means of a copper wire, and a switch upon the dashboard of the car, and resistance coils placed under the seats to the motor, and from the motor by means of the adjustable clip (illustrated in diagram fig. 9) to the axles, and by them through the four wheels to the rails which form the return circuit.

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I have designed many modifications of the track, but it is, perhaps, best at the present time to describe only that which I have in actual use, and it is illustrated in diagram fig. 10,

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which is a sectional and perspective view of the central channel. L is the surface of the road, and s, s are the sleepers, c, c are the chairs which hold the angle iron, A, A forming the longitudinally slotted centre rail and the electric lead, which consists of two half-tubes of copper insulated from the chairs by the blocks, I, I. A special brass clamp, free to slide upon the tube, is employed for this purpose, and the same form of clamp serves to join the two ends of the copper tubes together and to make electric contact. Two half-tubes instead of one slotted tube have been employed in order to leave a free passage for dirt or wet to fall through the slot in the centre rail to the drain space, G. Between chair and chair hewn granite or artificial stone is employed, formed, as shown in the drawing, to complete the surface of the road and to form a continuous channel or drain. In order that this drain may not become choked, at suitable intervals, in the length of the track, sump-holes are formed as illustrated in diagram, fig 11.

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These sump-holes have a well for the accumulation of mud, and are also connected with the main street drain so that water can freely pass away. The hand-holes afford facility for easily removing the dirt.

In a complete track these hand-holes would occasionally be wider than shown here for the purpose of removing or fixing the collector, fig. 12, which consists of two sets of spirally fluted rollers free to revolve upon spindles, which are held by knuckle-joints drawn together by spiral springs; by this means the pressure of the rollers against the inside of the tube is constantly maintained, and should any obstruction occur in the tube the spiral flute causes it to revolve, thus automatically cleansing the tubes.

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The collector is provided with two steel plates, which pass through the slit in the centre rail; the lower ends of these plates are clamped by the upper frame of the collector, insulating material being interposed, and the upper ends are held in two iron cheeks. Between these steel plates insulated copper strips are held, electrically connected with the collector and with the adjustable clip mounted upon the iron cheeks; this clip holds the terminal on the end of the wire (leading to the motor) firmly enough for use, the cheeks being also provided with studs for the attachment of leather straps hooked on to the frame-work of the car, one for the forward and one for backward movement of the collector. These straps are strong enough for the ordinary haulage of the collector, and for the removal of pebbles and dirt that may get into the slit, but should any absolute block occur then they break and the terminal is withdrawn from the clip; the electric contact being thereby broken the car stops, the obstruction can then be removed and the collector reconnected without damage, and with little delay.

In order to secure continuity of the centre rail throughout the length of the track, and still provide for the removal of the collector at frequent intervals, the framework of the collector is so made that, by slackening the side-bolts, the steel plates can be drawn upwards and the collector itself withdrawn sideways through the handholes, one of the half-tubes being removed for the purpose.

Fig. 13 illustrates another arrangement that I have constructed, both of collector and method of collecting.

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As before mentioned, the arrangement now described has been carried out in a field near the works of Messrs. Smith, Baker & Co., Cornbrook Telegraph Works, Manchester, and its working efficiency has been most satisfactory. After a week of rain, and during drenching showers the car ran with the same speed and under the same control as when the ground was dry.

This I account for by the theory that when the rails are wet and the tubes moist, the better contact made compensates for the slight leakage that may occur.

At the commencement of my lecture I promised to confine myself to work done; I therefore abstain from describing various modifications of detail for the same purpose. But one method of supporting and insulating the conductor in the channel may be suggested by an illustration of the plan I adopted for a little pleasure line in the Winter Gardens, Blackpool.

Fig. 14. There the track being exclusively for the electric railway, it was not necessary to provide a central channel; the conductor has therefore been placed in the centre of the track, and consists of bar iron 1 1/4 in. by 1/2 in., and is held vertically by means of studs rivetted into the side; these studs pass through porcelain insulators, and by means of wooden clamps, and wedges are held in the iron chairs which rest upon the sleepers. The iron conductors were placed vertically to facilitate bending round the sharp curves which were unavoidable on this line.

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The collector consists of two metal slippers held together by springs, attached to the car by straps and electrically connected to the motor by clips in the same manner as the one employed in Manchester.

I am glad to say that notwithstanding the curves with a radius of 55 feet and gradients of 1 in 57, this line is also a practical success.

As I have not yet put into practice my proposed methods of dealing with points and crossings, and providing for long distances and many cars on the same line, I withhold description for a future occasion.

A discussion here ensued, and a number of questions were asked by Messrs. Bevis, Mills, Bramall, Vaudrey, Wilkinson, Pain, Boult and Warren, in reply to which Mr. Smith said, "To give a full answer to all these questions would require us to sit until the early hours, but I will just briefly run through them. In the first place, your chairman made some remarks in approbation of the method of the brake I used on my second experimental car, and another member also put a question about a foot brake. My reply is, that you have a very simple illustration here of a brake having outward pressure upon the inner periphery of the wheel, instead of acting on the outer. That was in the case of a small car only seating four people, and the foot brake was of sufficient power. Do not suppose for a moment that I think of putting only a foot brake upon a full sized street car. The first questioner asked me about cleansing and the effect of contact. As regards cleansing, in the new section of channel, you will see that there is protection against the falling of debris upon the collector, and that ample provision is made for periodical cleansing, so as not to be under the necessity of an absolute block. Nothing bigger can get in than would go through a half-inch slit, and when it gets down the flush of water is sufficient to carry it away. Another question is that of the effect of damp. It was predicted a source of failure by my electrical friends; "it will be all very well in dry weather but it won't do in damp." In the majority of cases when people have come to see my car it has been raining heavily, but I have found that practically there has been no loss of efficiency through damp. I have been asked a question by an electrician, and I must give an electrical answer, and it is this: I argued, and I find practice has proved me to be correct, that the extra facility for collecting made by damp - the moisture of the ground - would compensate for the leakage; and, further, I argued that inasmuch as electricity will go where it likes best, and inasmuch as water offers a higher resistance than copper, then, though the copper wires were laid in water itself, it would prefer the copper wire to the water as a conductor, and it does, and this somewhat ameliorates the dreadful state of things foreshadowed by Mr. Wilkinson. If the track be thoroughly wet, then there is a leakage taking place through the ground to the return rails, when the cars are not being run. But, as soon as you begin to run the cars, the electricity goes right through, doing useful work. A practical difficulty is, that in wet weather you have always a standing minimum load upon your engine. As soon as the cars are put into operation the loss by that leakage practically ceases; that is, assuming there is excellent contact. I found in my experiments in the Winter Gardens, and at Manchester, that on a wet day there was always a small load upon the engine, but, comparatively, not as much when the car was loaded in wet weather as in dry.

As regards loss of power through changing the form of energy, I may say that, so far as my experience goes, it takes about three times more power at the station than is given out upon the track. There has also been asked the comparative cost between working a car electrically and by any other means. I will take one form - that of steam haulage - in which Mr. Wilkinson is concerned. A tramway engine varies in weight from 12 to 8 tons, and has to draw an ordinary car behind it. The average load of a car and passengers would not be excessive at 3 1/2 tons, and a heavier one at 4 1/2 to 5 tons. You have, therefore, to employ ten or twelve tons in order to move your three, four, or five tons it has to pull behind it. Assuming that a steam tram car engine works as efficiently as a stationary engine - and that is a bold assumption for anyone to make - you can quite see the favourable comparison between electricity and the steam engine. The addition to an ordinary tramcar of an electric motor and the necessary gear is only half a ton, so that instead of adding eighteen or twelve tons to the load to be moved, you are only adding half a ton. I admit at once that there are certain conditions of tramway tracks to which I should not for a moment advise the application of electricity. There are others to which I should not advise the application of steam haulage, and others where I should not advise cable haulage. And again, there are other conditions where I should advise each one in its turn in preference to another. Therefore, do not think I am going to advocate the application of electricity for every purpose. I may say that if all the cars stop suddenly there is a cessation of demand upon the engines, and there must be a sufficient governor to control it. If all the cars but one or two were disconnected at once, there would be a momentarily sudden impulse upon those working, and the drivers would have to regulate accordingly. It is a question of the construction of the generator; and I prefer to use the term generator for the machine that makes electricity at the station, and motor the one which uses it on the car. Although I have used a Siemen's motor so far, I don't think they embody all that is capable of being done when electricity is matured. As to the question of crossings, will you allow me to say that I have most carefully considered that point, and it is not as though we had to deal with the mechanical conduction of forces; connecting together a number of electric conductors is easily accomplished. I mentioned, during my remarks, that I used the central conductor for the lead only, and the rails for the return. If that statement is weighed, you will see it is an answer to the difficulty.

Mr. Smith here explained, by sketches upon the black board, how he proposed dealing with points and crossings.

The dynamo has to be connected with every one of the conductors. It is immaterial whether the electricity supplying it is coming down here or going there (pointing to sketch), and it makes no practical difference to the motor on the car. A question has also been put as to the loss in transmission, and my answer is, that such a loss is comparatively a small matter, and does not need serious consideration. The serious cost - I prefer that word to "loss" - is in going from mechanical to electrical energy and vice versa, but the cost in transmission is comparatively very little.


A vote of thanks to the Lecturer was accorded by acclamation, and the meeting then adjourned.

Number of Members present, 24; Visitors, 9.

[Lock]

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
November 8, 1884

Electrical Tramways in Blackpool. - The Blackpool Town Council has decided to enter into an agreement with Mr. Holroyd Smith to work the electric tramways in the borough for seven years, paying the corporation 6 1/2 per cent. on the money it invests in laying down the lines. The tramways are to be in working order by June 1st next year.

The British Architect
November 14, 1884

The Blackpool Town Council have decided to enter into an agreement with Mr. Holroyd Smith, electrical engineer, of Manchester, by which he undertakes to work the electric tramways in the borough for seven years, and pay the corporation 6 1/2 per cent. on the money they invest in laying down the tram lines.

The Electrician and Electrical Engineer
December, 1884

Foreign.
A second trial has been made at the Cornbrook telegraph works (Smith, Baker & Co.), Manchester, of an experimental line of electrical tramway. Mr. W. Holroyd Smith, Halifax, the patentee, explained to the members of the Blackpool Corporation Tramways Committee the working of the system, a thorough inspection of which was made. A car containing about twenty persons ran at various speeds up to twelve miles an hour. On the conclusion of the experiments the opinion was generally expressed that the system would prove excellent for street purposes.

The Railway Times.
January 10, 1885.

CONTRACTS, TENDERS, &c.
Blackpool Corporation Tramways. - The Tramways Committee are prepared to receive tenders for the construction and laying of tramways. (See advertisement.)

Blackpool Electric Tramway. - The directors of the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company, Limited, invite tenders for engines and boilers required on the above work, to be sent in before the 14th inst. Particulars of Mr. Holroyd Smith, Consulting and Electrical Engineer, Halifax.

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The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
January 17, 1885

Blackpool Electric Tramway Company, Limited. -This company has been formed for the purpose of constructing and working an electric tramway upon Mr. M. Holroyd Smith's patents at Blackpool. The line is to extend from Claremont Park to the end of the South Shore, along the Promenade. According to the prospectus, arrangements have been made with the Blackpool Corporation to lay the ordinary tramway lines and grant a lease to the company upon favourable terms for seven years, with right of renewal. The company will thus be relieved from the heavy expense of constructing the lines, and will only have to provide the electrical plant and equipment. The capital is £30,000, to be divided into 3,000 shares of £10 each. The directors are inviting tenders for the engines and boilers required in carrying out the work. The company reserves the right to make use of horse-power if necessary.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
January 31, 1885

NEW COMPANIES REGISTERED.
Blackpool Electric Tramway Company, Limited. - Capital, £30,000 in £10 shares. Registered offices, Talbot Square, Blackpool. Objects :- To lay down tramways in the borough of Blackpool and its vicinity, and to work the same by electricity by means of Holroyd Smith's patent; also to enter into arrangement with the Corporation of Blackpool for public and private electric lighting. Signatories :-Thos. Shaw, M.P., 50 shares ; T. H. Morriss, 15 shares; J. Oddie, 10 shares; R. Horsfall, 25 shares; G. H. Smith, 50 shares; all of Halifax; J. Moseley, of Ardwick, Manchester, 100 shares; G. E. Schofield, M.D., 20 shares; J. Bickerstaffe, 30 shares; and J. Broadbent, 25 shares, of Blackpool; T. Ormerod, of Brighouse, 50 shares. Directing qualification - Shares or stock of the nominal value of £l00; the signatories are to appoint the first, and are to act as directors ad interim. The following appointments have been made :- Mr. Godfrey Rhodes, of Halifax, to be solicitor; Mr. M. Holroyd Smith to be consulting engineer, and Mr. R. Hundley to be secretary. Registered 24th inst. by Mr. C. Doubble, 14, Serjeant's Inn, Fleet Street.

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The Railway Times.
March 14, 1885.

PASSING NOTES.
The first rail was laid on Thursday of the new electric tramway which is being constructed along the promenade at Blackpool. The tramway will be the first to be worked by electricity in England. It is expected that a portion of the line will be opened for Whit-week.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
March 21, 1885

The Electric Tramway at Blackpool. - In the presence of the Mayor, and other members of the Blackpool Town Council, the first centre bar or conductor of the current for the electric tramway on the promenade was laid with some degree of ceremony on the 12th instant. Mr. Holroyd Smith, whose system is to be used, spoke confidently of the anticipated success of the new line, and the source of attraction which it is believed it will prove to visitors. The line is expected to be ready for opening by Whitsun week. Mr. Joseph Copley, of Lincoln, is the contractor under the corporation for the laying down of the line.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
March 28, 1885

Electrical Tramways. - On Tuesday evening, Mr. Holroyd Smith delivered a lecture in the Assembly Rooms, Blackpool, on the development of an electric tramway. The Mayor presided, and in his introductory remarks said that, although the Blackpool Corporation - and Blackpool through them - deserved credit for the introduction of the electric light, he thought that those gentlemen who were backing up Mr. Holroyd Smith deserved more credit still, for they were finding money themselves out of their own pockets, while the Corporation in the other case were simply finding public money. He did not see why they should not put on electricity as they put coals on a steam engine, and use it there and then. With respect to the generation of electricity, he should like to see Mr. Holroyd Smith and other experts in electrical matters, discover some different method. Mr. Smith then delivered his lecture, which was illustrated by a number of experiments; he explained, with much fulness of detail, the method which is being adopted in Blackpool, and made it clear that he is thoroughly familiar with the work he has taken in hand, and that no part of it has been overlooked. The various materials employed in the construction of the line on the front were illustrated in detail, and certain objections made against the use of electricity for tramway purposes were dealt with in the clearest and most forcible manner. The lecturer stated that about 80 per cent. of the electricity generated at the depot could be converted into power. In responding to a vote of thanks, the Mayor took the opportunity of expressing his favourite opinion relative to the movement, which was that "it was not wise to count the chickens before they are hatched."

The Street Railway Journal
March, 1885

Electric Tramway. - The Blackpool (England) Town Council General Committee has resolved to employ electric power for the new tramways to be there laid.

The Street Railway Journal
April, 1885

Blackpool Electric Tramway.
It looks as though Europe was going to get ahead of us on the electric tramway question. We quote from the Mechanical World of London:

"The proposed electric tramway along the esplanade, two miles in length at Blackpool, is of interest, as the principle upon which it is to be worked forms a new departure from any hitherto used. In the arrangement in question, which is that of Mr. M. Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, engineer to the company, the rails are laid in the usual way, but in addition a central channel is employed through which the electric current is conveyed from stationary engines and dynamos. This channel is formed of two angle irons laid with about 1/2 in. space between them, being supported at intervals by cast-iron chairs laid upon wood sleepers. The chairs also carry the substitute for the electric cables, being two rows of half round copper strips, hollow in section, like a tube cut in two longitudinally, by means of insulated vulcanite blocks. The ends or junctions of the copper half tubes are joined together by brass clamps which make electric contact, and they are laid about 1 1/2 in. or 2 in. apart and kept quite separate, so that a free passage is left for the collecting carrier, and for dirt or wet to fall through to a drain space formed of shaped granite or artificial stone beneath. Sump holes connected with the main street drain are formed at intervals, in which any mud that accumulates can be removed. Also hand holes for the purpose of fixing or removing the collecting carrier which collects the electric current from the copper half tubes and by means of a dynamo attached to the car that propels it along. This collector consists of two sets of fluted rollers free to revolve on spindles, which are held by knuckle joints drawn together by springs in such a manner as to press the rollers against the two hollow tubes with a constant pressure. Should any grit or other obstruction occur in the tube, the spiral flute causes the rollers to revolve and throw it out. Two steel plates are attached to the rollers passing through the slot or groove in centre rail, and are by means of leather straps attached to the car. Straps are adopted so that on any formidable obstruction occurring they will break without injuring the car, which will then stop, as the electric circuit which passes by a wire from the collector to the dynamo will be broken. The cars will be driven by one of Siemens' or other dynamos, revolving in the space between the axles of car by means of an endless chain passing round a stud wheel keyed to one of the wheel axles. Although the Blackpool line will be the first on a practical scale on this system, the inventor has already laid down 100 yards of rails on the 4 ft. 8 1/2 in. gauge as an experiment in a field near Manchester, upon which a car has been run. He has also had a small pleasure line at work during last summer at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, so that the practicability of the arrangement has already been tested to a limited extent. It is proposed to lay the new line, which is to be on the 4 ft. 8 1/2 in. gauge, in time for the summer season and we understand contracts for the cars, stationary engines, which are of the Robey type, boilers and other necessary fittings, have already been given out."

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
July 25, 1885

The Electric Tramway in Blackpool. - On Monday afternoon a series of experimental trips were made over a portion of the Promenade, the car used being one of the very handsome vehicles which have been constructed for the company, and a facsimile of that which is now in use at the Inventions Exhibition, South Kensington. Between three and four o'clock on the day in question, Mr. M. Holroyd Smith decided to have an experimental trip over part of the line. After some little delay, the work of coupling up was accomplished. The electric communication between the generator at the engine-house and the motor under the car, was complete, and all that was wanted was that the rails and centre channel should be cleared of some of the abundant dirt which had accumulated on and about them. This work was at last got through, and some two or three hundred yards of the road made ready for the experimental trip. During the runs, numerous gentlemen - directors, representatives of the press, and others - had seats in the car, and so far as they could judge the running of the car was an undoubted success. Mr. Smith is to be congratulated upon having brought matters to a point of being enabled to make a demonstration. During one of the runs, a railway parcel van was coming down towards South Shore. It had got within twenty feet of the car, which was running at a speed of about six miles an hour, when the horse grew very restive, and backed the van right across the track. Mr. Holroyd Smith, who was driving, turned off the current, applied the breaks, and in less than half its length the conveyance was brought to a dead stand.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
July 25, 1885

OFFICIAL RETURNS OF ELECTRICAL COMPANIES.
Blackpool Electric Tramway Company, Limited. -
The first return of this company, made up to the 6th ult., was filed on the 16th inst. The nominal capital is £30,000 in £10 shares. 2,850 shares have been taken up, and £5 per share has been called; the calls paid amount to £13,902 leaving £348 unpaid. Registered office, Talbot Square, Blackpool.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 8, 1885

Holroyd Smith's Electric Tram-Car. - The electric tram-car belonging to Mr. M. Holroyd Smith now running at the Inventions Exhibition carried 2,202 passengers on Monday. This car is one of those intended for the Blackpool tram line.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 8, 1885

The Blackpool Electric Tramway. - The Board of Trade, acting on the report of its inspector, Major Hutchinson, has declined to permit the opening for passenger traffic of the Blackpool electric tramway, which is laid along the Promenade, on the ground of its faulty construction. This is much to be regretted, and we hope to hear that before long all such difficulties will have vanished.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 8, 1885

The Blackpool Times is very severe upon the Corporation of that town for mismanagement in connection with the construction of the electric tramway. It says the real blunder was made at the outset, when it was resolved to construct the lines under the supervision of a gentleman whose experience of tramways was nil. The Times does not greatly blame the contractor. If his work was bad he ought to have had the fact pointed out at the very first. If he declined to take notice of the suggestion, then the engineer in charge should have reported to the proper committee, the committee should have referred the matter to the full council, and the council should have stopped the supplies, or declared the contract at an end. There is certain to be a direct loss to the ratepayers, as the first estimate for the lines will unquestionably be exceeded, and our contemporary counsels the advisability of making the first loss the only one, by boldly grappling with the business at once. It seems the points are not what they should be, the electrical engineer having asked for points of a certain number, whilst the Corporation official insisted upon those of quite a different figure. The tramways committee is advised to order all these up right away, when a resolute effort might see a fairly quick completion reached and the cars running before the season is over.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 29, 1885

Blackpool Electric Tramway. - It is stated that the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company has decided to put in a claim against the Blackpool Corporation for the failure to complete the line of route according to undertaking.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
September 12, 1885

THE BLACKPOOL ELECTRIC TRAMWAY.
When the Board of Trade sent down Major-General Hutchinson, R.E., to inspect the tramway line at Blackpool, he was accompanied by Major Armstrong, R.E., whose special duty it was to report upon the "electrical" portion of the tramway. This has been done, and a copy of his report forwarded to the Local Authorities at Blackpool, the particulars of which are just to hand. Major Armstrong, according to the Mechanical World, was provided by the engineer with all the necessary electrical details of the line, and the methods adopted for safety, which he thinks will, "if carried out in all the cars, and throughout the entire length of the track, be sufficient to protect the public from danger or inconvenience through the employment of electricity as a method of propulsion." With reference to the conductor, it may be remarked that it consists of two copper insulated rails placed underground, with an upper metallic screen plate (connected to earth) intervening between the rails and the traffic along the road. The line will be worked at an electromotive force of 250 volts; this potential Major Armstrong considers "would, indeed, be too high to be permitted in a rail laid in the middle of the road, were it not for the provision of the 'earthed' metallic screen, which prevents the public from coming in contact with it."

Relative to this point he continues: "In the dry weather during which the examination was made, the combined action of the insulation of the rails and the earthing of the screen plate was such as to prevent any electrical action whatever being detected by my touch, so that under these circumstances it is manifest that no inconvenience would be felt by the public.

"In wet weather two changes will occur - viz., (a) There will be leakage from the insulated rail; (b) the earthing of the screen plate will gradually become more perfect.

"It is just possible that at some stage of the above process, the leakage might not be all carried to earth, and, as horses are so very sensitive to electric shocks, I would like to try this again in wet weather - possibly more than once."

In conclusion Major Armstrong recommends that the electrical working of the line should be carried on according to certain recommendations which are contained in a paper accompanying the report, of which we give the following extracts :-

"The engine, or engines, which drive the dynamo generators shall be governed by governors approved by the Board of Trade, which shall prevent the speed varying more than ten per cent."

"The charged rail shall be so insulated, and the metallic screen plates shall be connected to earth as shall be directed by the Board of Trade, from time to time, with a view of preventing persons touching the latter from receiving shocks."

"The magnetic field of the generator shall be independently excited, and shall not be connected with the charged rail."

"Effective insulation shall be provided between the passengers in the car and all points in metallic connection with the charged rail."

"The foregoing includes the switches and the reversing plugs. In the car examined on the 29th ult., some further insulation of the reversing plugs was desirable."

"Should the collector become detached in any way, it will be so insulated that a person touching it will not receive a shock."

Major-General Hutchinson, in forwarding the report, freely concurs; he considers that the governor on the stationary engine will be quite sufficient, without requiring one on each car, and also that an electric brake will not be necessary. However, he is of opinion that each car should be provided with a speed indicator.

The resetting of the line is being rapidly proceeded with, and will be finished about the middle of September. The engines and dynamos have been tried satisfactorily, and several of the cars have been run on a short length outside the engine station. The solution of this enterprise, says our contemporary, is now clearly at hand.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
September 12, 1885

Electrical Appointment. - The Blackpool Electric Tramway Company has recently appointed Mr. Arthur Hoare to the post of electrician. Mr. Hoare obtained his electrical knowledge in the School of Electrical Engineering in Prince's Street, Hanover Square, gaining the certificate of the school with great credit at the termination of his course, the examination for which is severe, and conducted by examiners unconnected with the teaching staff. Mr. Hoare was in charge of an experimental electric railway at the Winter Garden, Blackpool, during the latter part of 1884.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
September 12, 1885

The Blackpool Tramway.- We understand that the line is being rapidly proceeded with. Mr. Hohroyd Smith has had three cars running at one time carrying over 100 people, and the horses in the vicinity of the line are gradually getting accustomed to the sight of the cars gliding along without any visible means of propulsion.

TOO MUCH EXCITEMENT, one week before opening...

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
October 3, 1885

Fire on the Blackpool Tramway. - Flames were seen bursting one day last week from the centre channel of the electrical tramway at Blackpool. Endeavours were at once made to put them out, but it was not until the hose-cart had been brought from the town's yard and a copious supply of water poured into the channel that the flames were extinguished. A local journal says of the outbreak: "It was conjectured, in explanation of this remarkable occurrence, that there had been a leakage from a gas main which passed under the line, and that the electric current; sent along the conductors had fired the gas collected in the channel, and thus caused the flames. This, however, was not the true explanation of the peculiar conflagration; for we believe we are right in stating that it was entirely due to some disarrangement in the electrical appliances."

Finally!

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
October 3, 1885

INAUGURATION OF THE ELECTRIC TRAMWAY AT BLACKPOOL.
This electric tramway, of which Mr. M. Holroyd Smith is the inventor and engineer, was formally dedicated to public use on Tuesday, amidst the most enthusiastic rejoicings. The Lord Mayor of York, the mayors of Manchester and Liverpool, and of about twenty-five other towns, accepted the invitation of the Mayor of Blackpool to do honour to the occasion, and vast crowds poured in by ordinary and excursion trains from all the large towns in Lancashire and Cheshire. It is estimated that about 50,000 persons were present. The proceedings of the day commenced with a procession of bands, volunteers, fire brigade, officials and council of the town, life-boats, carriages containing the mayors and the invited guests, and a number of trade groups, &c, intended to add to its interest and effect as a popular demonstration.

The ceremony of inaugurating the tramway was initiated by Alderman R. Horsfall, of Halifax, Chairman of the Blackpool Tramway Company, who expressed his pleasure at that day seeing the first electric tramway in England opened for public traffic. He admitted that the company had had a great many difficulties to encounter, but he believed they were now virtually surmounted, and that they would be able to show that an electric tramway, which many people had said was an impossibility, was not only practicable, but that it would be a benefit to the town of Blackpool.

Mr. Holroyd Smith, being called upon to make a short statement, said it afforded him both pleasure and pride to feel that that day was to witness the inauguration of the electric tramway system in England. He felt it would be the most memorable event of his life, believing as he did that the new enterprise, of which he was the inventor, would do much to benefit mankind. Electricity he compared to a wilful child, requiring great care and watchfulness in its application to practical purposes; but he hoped they had so far succeeded with regard to this particular work as to apply it in such a way as to be not only efficient, but reliable, in the interest of public safety. Mr. Holroyd Smith then handed to the Mayor of Manchester a starting lever in ebony and brass, on which was inscribed, "Presented to Alderman Harwood, Mayor of Manchester, by Mr. Holroyd Smith, engineer, on the occasion of his Worship inaugurating the Blackpool Electric Tramway. - September 29th, 1885."

The Mayor of Manchester, before making the necessary connection to start the car, complimented the engineer on the success attaching to this stage of the enterprise. He also complimented the shareholders, because, although their investment might not be immediately remunerative, they would at least succeed in that which they had more in view than the question of profit, namely, the adding another inducement to the hard-worked people of our large towns and centres of industry to come to Blackpool to repair their wasted energies, and find health and enjoyment. He had great pleasure in declaring that electric tramway open, and dedicated to the use of the public. His Worship then applied the lever, and set the car in motion.

A vote of thanks closed the formal proceedings, after which the car was driven by the mayor along the Promenade.

In the afternoon, at the instance of the Mayor and Mayoress of Blackpool and the fete committee, a collation was served to the invited guests at the Borough Hall, at which the mayor (Alderman Cocker) presided. Amongst other toasts was, "The latest achievement of modern science - the electric tramway - may it prosper," which was proposed by Mr. Daniel Adamson, who is just now the most prominent man in Manchester, owing to the success of the Ship Canal scheme. In a vigorous speech Mr. Adamson referred to the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, in 1825, comparing that occasion with the present; and expressed the hope and belief that the inauguration of the Blackpool Electric Tramway would prove an equally auspicious and portentous occasion.

Alderman R. Horsfall, chairman of the tramway company, in reply, expressed the thanks of the company for the attendance of so many gentlemen of position and influence at the opening festivities, and reviewed the history of the rapid rise of Blackpool, which now, on account of both its natural and its added attractions, stands in the front rank as a health resort. He looked upon the electric tramway as another addition to its attractions, and one that would bring visitors next season from all parts of the country.

Mr. Holroyd Smith, the electrical engineer of the company, also replied to the toast, expressing the great pleasure he felt in the fact that it had been proposed by Mr. Daniel Adamson, and thanking the assembly for the cordial manner in which they had received it.

A subsequent speaker claimed for Blackpool that it was the first watering place in the country to adopt the electric light.

The day's demonstration concluded with a display of fireworks on the sea, lasting till nearly midnight.

The tramway line of Blackpool is about two miles in length ana consists of the ordinary tram rails with the addition of a central channel sunk below the roadway, and presenting only a very narrow slit or opening to the surface. Within this channel are laid the two electric conductors, made of special drawn copper and so placed against the sides of the channel as to be protected from the possibility of injury being occasioned to them through the slit at the top. This arrangement is also necessary to enable points, loops, and crossings to be treated effectually. Since we described and illustrated the experimental tramcar and track, which Mr. Holroyd Smith constructed at Manchester in 1884 (Electrical Review No. 355), he has introduced improvements into almost every detail, tending very much towards the achievement of that end which he has always kept in view - of being able to employ the electric current for the propulsion of street cars without endangering the safety of the public, and with a fair prospect of a remunerative dividend to those who should take up the matter as an investment for capital. In this connection it may be mentioned that the shareholders of the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company are very sanguine as to the undertaking being a financial success, even in the first year of its working, though it would appear that this has not been the chief object of the promotors, who have taken up the matter as a labour of love, the directors giving their services gratuitously.

The plant consists of two very fine 25 H.P. engines by eminent makers, which each drive a large dynamo specially made by Messrs Elwell-Parker for this work. It is calculated that the current generated by these means is sufficient to drive ten cars fully loaded with their 400 passengers. The cars are of the ordinary appearance, the motor being entirely hidden in the centre of the flooring. Considerable ingenuity has been displayed in so simplifying the arrangements for controlling the speed and direction of the car that an ordinary unskilled driver has very little to learn. The starting gear consists merely of two handles or plugs, which fit into four holes arranged like the points of a diamond - if the car is to move forward he puts the handles in the top and bottom holes, if the car is required to move backwards he removes them into the two side holes. The speed is controlled in a similarly common-place manner by a lever, and a little practice in the use of this, and of the break, is all that is needed to render the driver perfect in his duties. On a future occasion we hope to be able to describe and illustrate an important improvement in the matter of switches and other technical details which Mr. Smith has recently invented, and also to give an illustration of the engine and dynamo room of the Blackpool Tramway Company.

Hey, Holroyd again, showing the Mayor how to drive!

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Fun to see Car Number 4 still around...

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Awesome job Holroyd!

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The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
October 31, 1885

The Blackpool Electric Tramway. - The Blackpool Times of the 21st inst. contained the following item - The open electric car, the property of Mr. Holroyd Smith, was running yesterday all day, between Claremont Park and the South Shore Hydropathic Establishment. So far as the electrical portion was concerned the car appeared to run without a single inconvenience. The "points," however, continue to cause no small amount of trouble, and especially is this the case when the cars are being propelled by electricity. On two occasions yesterday, the open car took the wrong siding, and but for the careful and due control on the part of the driver, an accident in all probability would have occurred with a car that was proceeding in the opposite direction. It is a rather curious fact that whenever the waggon-like car is being run, it manages to travel with the greatest ease, whilst the large cars have usually frequent stoppages at unexpected intervals.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
November 7, 1885

Something Wrong Somewhere. - Has Mr. Holroyd Smith been deceiving the public and everybody else as to the powers of his system of electric locomotion on tramways by resorting to the secret use of accumulators? Or has the Graphic, presuming on the ignorance of its readers as to technical matters, brought out an old block intended to represent the Reckenzaun system exhibited at Kew some two years ago?

-------------------

The Blackpool Electric Tramway. - Last week's Mechanical World stated that "the second or southern portion of the Blackpool electric tramway has now been cleared from its obstructions, and the tube conductors freed from the tar which covered them. Some inconvenience is experienced at the points at two or three places along the line, and despite the utmost care the car not unfrequently gets upon the wrong line. It is also stated that sudden and unexpected stoppages occur with the new cars, and of considerable duration. It is to be hoped that the tar-cleaning of the south section did not cost so much as that of the north, which amounted to £150, as stated by the Company's managing director. Some persons of an inquiring turn of mind have been testing the conductors by passing the blades of their knives down the channel, with the results of violent shocks to their system and the melting of the knife blade."

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
November 14, 1885

The Blackpool Electrical Tramcars - In our last week's issue we drew attention, on the authority of an engineering contemporary, to the frequent stoppages to which the cars on the Blackpool Electrical Tramway have been continually subjected. We understand that the cause of these serious annoyances was traced to the motors employed to propel the vehicles, and that these have been replaced by Siemens dynamos, since which time no further difficulties of an electrical nature have been experienced. Mr. Holroyd Smith and his Company will not, we hope, feel discouraged by these hindrances to regular and satisfactory locomotion, for all new undertakings are more or less troublesome at the offset.

------------------------------

"Something Wrong Somewhere." - Respecting our last week's note under the above heading, we now learn that the drawing of Mr. Holroyd Smith's electrical tramcar, as recently printed in the Graphic, is fairly accurate; but that the mysterious looking objects seen beyond the motor are not (as stated in that worthy journal) accumulators, but resistance coils.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
November 14, 1885

The Blackpool Electric Tramway. - The Blackpool electric tramway is now in full working order, according to the Mechanical World, and cars are running daily in both directions throughout the entire length, The corporation, at whose cost the tramway was laid, have issued a statement of the cost of the construction of the line, which, with the crossing places and the double portion on South Beach, is two miles 1,000 yards. From this it appears that the total sum expended has been £11,012. The cost of the electrical portion will not be known until the publication of the company's accounts.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
November 28, 1885

Blackpool Electric Tramway Company, Limited. -
The report of the directors of this company, to be presented to the shareholders at the first annual general meeting, on Saturday, the 28th inst., states that the revenue account shows a profit of £63 10s. 6d., after meeting all working expenses, and the directors regard this result as very favourable, considering the many difficulties with which they have had to contend. The electric cars are now running, and the directors have every reason to expect a successful season next year.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
December 5, 1885

The Blackpool Electric Tramway. - The cost of the Construction of the Blackpool electric tramway has been stated by the ex-surveyor to have been £11,033 for the whole length. This, however, is only for the cost up to the time of the first visit of the Government Inspector, states the Mechanical World, between that time and the second visit the line had almost all been relaid and points and crossings altered, so that until the Corporation and the contractors have settled between them this extra work the entire cost of the line cannot be known.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
December 5, 1885

CITY NOTES, REPORTS, MEETINGS, &c.
Blackpool Electric Tramways Company, Limited.
On Saturday, the 28th ult., the first annual meeting of this Company was held in the company's offices, Alderman Horsfall, Mayor of Halifax (chairman), presiding.

The Chairman moved that the report, of which a copy had been sent to each shareholder, be taken as read, and adopted by the meeting. The report showed that the whole of the 3,000 shares of the company had been allotted, and £14,242 paid up, or £5 per share; 150 of the shares were allotted to Mr. M. H. Smith, engineer to the company. There was an available balance of net profit on the passenger traffic from the 12th September to October 31st of £63 10s. 6d.; but there were various liabilities, amounting to an estimated amount of £2,000.

Dr.Bannister (Liverpool) seconded the adoption of the report, upon this Dr. Kingsbury asked for information upon several items, first travelling, of £140 for cars, balance of contract; next upon fittings, &c and other expenses, joiners' work, electrical liabilities of £2,xxx With reference to the estimated additional undertaken liabilities could not consider the way of including undertaken lia n-fene, as it seemed to say the directors had which might be *_>of whicn they did nQt knQW fhe extent) but shareholders nao^^ or gTen moie> for ^ tne information the balance-sheet, ^j^on the subject. Then on the other side of the as to the larg would only be fair if some information was given Who was sums paid to the contractor on account (£1,800). Then as , contractor and what remained to be paid him? It waf ,ne item of £4,000 odd for electrical fittings, on account, all t'.arge item, and there might be another .£4,000 to pay for itf balance-sheet showed to the shareholders. There was an rA £500 to Mr. M. H. Smith, in consideration for the assignment of his patent right to Blackpool. That was perfectly right, but what about the £400 for engineer's commission to the same gentleman; under what agreement was this to be paid? Then as to the item of £213 for preliminary expenses, in the form of travelling and hotel bills, what was the relation of that item to the item of £171, 16s. 11d. mentioned in the liabilities on the other side of the balance-sheet? These items were perplexing, and he would move an amendment to the adoption of the report, that it be referred back to the directors, who should be requested to state on the face of it what sums they were indebted for, how much they were spending, and how these amounts were to be met, also that the items he had pointed out should be differentiated. He had never seen a balance-sheet so successfully designed to leave the owner of it in ignorance of the real facts of the case.

Councillor Bickerstaffe suggested that Dr. Kingsbury should wait until answers had been given to his questions before moving an amendment.

Dr. Kingsbury said he would be glad to wait.

The Chairman was glad Dr. Kingsbury had dissected the balance sheet. At a first meeting it was a difficult thing to furnish a true and correct statement of all their liabilities - (hear, hear) - and he thought the N.B. in the balance-sheet showed this, when it stated that, in addition to their liabilities, there were £2,000 of estimated jayments to be made. In answer to Dr. Kingsbury's questions, he had to say that since the balance-sheet had been prepared, the contractor's account - Mr. Cardwell's -had been settled for £348. Then as to the contract for motors, with Elwell, Parker, and Co. Some of the earlier motors supplied had not been satisfactory in their working. Some alteration had been made, and a second motor had just come in, which had been working exceedingly well for a fortnight, and there was a balance of £700 to be paid if the motors worked satisfactorily. Next as to Smith, Baker, and Co.'s contract for electrical fittings, &c, there was a balance due to them of £400, as near as could be made out. Then there was a balance of £210 due to Coop, the contractor, which was expected to be reduced. He was glad to say that the balance due to the engineer and for other items, of £400, would only be about £100. So that their liabilities, instead of being £2,000, would only be something like £1,700. The first six motors did not answer. They would not require ten motors, as they did not need one for every car; Messrs. Elwell and Parker would take back the old motors at their own cost, every penny of it, as the Tramway Company had a very stringent contract which Messrs. Elwell and Parker had acted up to in a most gentlemanly and honourable manner. Mr. M. H. Smith received his commission upon the electrical work and the centre channel, and then received 2 1/2 per cent. upon the engine and cars, but the £2,000 in the N.B. of the balance-sheet would cover any liabilities they had incurred.

Mr. Hyde asked the reason of the rails having to be filled in with spun yarn.

Mr. Broadbent said they had spent something like £160 in cleaning out the pitch from the channel. They had had to take up one side of the channel bodily, and had made a tumming of an inch all along the route. The Corporation said that must be made up by a certain time, and so it had been thought best to pack it with gaskin first, and then pitch it on the top, and he was sorry to say they had not gone through more than three-fourths of it, but in three or four days it would be covered on the top of the gaskin.

Mr. Hyde said it was the first time he had seen a railway held up by a bit of gaskin.

Dr. Kingsbury said he was partly satisfied, and partly not so, with the assurances he had received, but it would be much better if these balance-sheets stated positively, and not proximately, the amount of their liabilities.

Mr. Dean presumed that the £500 for the Corporation concession of patent right was part of the £2,000 agreed to be paid to Mr. Smith. Was that to be paid to him irrespective of the failure of the motor.

The Chairman said the failure of the motors was from a delicate bit of machinery, and they were under Mr. Smith's specification. Messrs. Elwell and Parker thought they had something better than Mr. Smith's idea, and tried it, but it had been a failure, so they were now carrying out the original arrangement, which was working most successfully, and at no extra cost to the company. There had been no failure of Mr. Smith's plans.

Mr. Ormerod asked if the £2,000 was to be paid to Mr. Smith without any condition as to the difficulties of his method of working. (" No, No.")

The Secretary read the clause in the agreement with Mr. Smith, which stated that the said 50 shares should not be allotted to him unless his invention was successful at the time named. That time had not yet arrived.

Dr. Kingsbury said under the original agreement between Mr. Horsfall and Mr. Smith the undertaking was to give to the latter for his invention £500 on the allotment of his shares - that had been paid; £1,000 in 100 fully paid up shares on the first of January next, and a fresh sum of £500 on the first of January, 1886, the latter to be paid in shares or in cash at the option of Mr. Holroyd Smith; the latter seemed a distinct payment for the success of his patent. To that surely the £400 previously referred to was for superintending his own work. (" No, No.")

The Chairman said the £400 was held out as a kind of premium irrespective of his electricity. If Mr. Smith had failed in his electricity they should have refused to carry out this agreement. Mr. Smith was so convinced of the possibility of carrying out his undertaking that he agreed to take his money in shares, so that if he failed he would lose his remuneration. But the directors were satisfied that it was not a failure. There was no truth that the directors were at variance with the Corporation, who were working harmoniously and were as anxious as the directors that this electric tramway should be a success. (Hear, hear.) The delays had arisen from difficulties both from the Corporation and from themselves.

In answer to Mr. Parr (Manchester) and other shareholders Mr. Holroyd Smith said he had been so absorbed in his work that the agreement was almost a bygone thing in his mind, and he had forgotten the fact that the £1,000 in shares were to be given to him in January. He assured them he should be a considerable loser by the time and expense he had been put to in the service of the company. A gentleman known to one of the directors had received a similar concession for a tramway, and asked for this concession more than he (Mr. Smith) would receive altogether. The company had a cheap bargain on their part.

Dr. Kingsbury's amendment was then withdrawn, and the report and balance-sheet were adopted unanimously.

The three retiring directors, Councillor Bickerstaffe, Mr. J. Broadbent, and the Chairman, were re-elected. Dr. Scholefield resigned, and Dr. Kingsbury was elected in his place.

Mr. J. T. Taylor, of Halifax, was re-appointed auditor to the company.

Mr. Hyde asked what were the terms agreed upon with the Corporation.

The Chairman read the statement printed upon the prospectus, which gave a lease of seven years to the company, with right of renewal at the end of the seven years. He then, at the request of Mr. Hyde, produced the original document, and read from it the clause with respect to the power of renewal, the pith of which was that if at the end of the seven years the Corporation do not purchase the plant and works of the company, the company are to have the right of renewal for the succeeding seven years, and at the end of that time the same conditions are to hold good for another seven years' renewal. A depreciation of 2 1/2 per cent. per annum to be allowed if the Corporation became purchasers, of which they would have to give notice before the expiration of the first three months of the seventh year of the lease.

Dr. Kingsbury moved a vote of thanks to the chairman.

Mr. Bannister seconded, and it was carried unanimously.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
December 26, 1885

The Blackpool Electrical Tramway. - We learn that there are now three of Mr. Holroyd Smith's cars in daily operation on this line, and that the managing director of the company finds from actual experience electrical propulsion to be much cheaper than horses for the purpose.

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OFFICIAL RETURNS OF ELECTRICAL COMPANIES
Blackpool Electric Tramway Company, Limited. - The annual return of this company made up to the 12th inst., was filed on the 19th inst. The nominal capital is £3,000 in £10 shares. 2,850 shares have been taken up and £5 per share has been called. The calls paid amount to £14,242, leaving £8 unpaid. As compared with the previous return, the paid-up capital shows an increase of £340.

Scientific American Supplement
February 13, 1886

THE BLACKPOOL ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS.
The development of electric locomotion has progressed very slowly in this country. It is now over two years since Mr. Traill's electric railway at Portrush has come into successful operation, but in spite of this encouraging example, no other works of a similar character have been attempted. There is, indeed, a short line of narrow gauge at Brighton, due to the private enterprise of Mr. Volk, but of great public undertakings in this direction nothing was heard until very recently, when the opening of the Blackpool electric tramway was announced. It is difficult to assign a reason for this slowness in the development of this particular application of electrical energy. It may be that the means of locomotion already at hand are so abundant as to render any new enterprise in this direction of secondary importance, or it may be that the check experienced by the electric lighting industry has reacted also upon other applications of electricity, and thrown financial difficulties into the way of all things connected with it; the fact remains that we in this country are in this respect not only behind our cousins on the other side of the Atlantic, but also behind the continent. At the time when the Portrush Railway approached completion, there were in Germany and Austria alone the following electric railways already in use: (1) Lichterfelde near Berlin, 1 1/2 miles; (2) Modling near Vienna, 2 miles; (3) Frankfurt-Offenbach, 4 1/8 miles; (4) Zaukerode Mine, 3/8 mile; (5) Hohenzollern Mine, 1/2 mile; (6) Neu Stassfurt Mine, 3/8 mile. Two systems of electric tramways were shown at the late Inventions Exhibition, which may be considered as fairly typical of the general problem. In one system, each tram-car carries its own store of power with it, and is thus independent of any electrical connection along the road; in the other system, the electrical energy is conveyed to the car by means of a conductor laid along the line. The former system was exemplified by a small working model of a tramcar constructed on Mr. Reckenzaun's principle, and provided with two of his motors and with storage cells, while the latter system was shown on a working scale by one of Mr. Holroyd Smith's cars, which conveyed passengers along the South Promenade. For the present, we shall describe the tramway erected at Blackpool on the plans of Mr. Holroyd Smith.

Mr. Holroyd Smith has described his experiments from time to time in papers read before the British Association, the first communication being made as early as September, 1883. In this he described experiments undertaken to ascertain the superiority of large over small driving wheels. A short length of track of 2 ft. 9 in. gauge was laid in a warehouse, and a trolley having one large center wheel and two small side wheels was placed on it. The center wheel, 3 ft. in diameter and 6 in. wide, ran on two broad wooden rails with a slot between them, through which an arm passed for the purpose of making electrical connection with a continuous conductor placed underneath. The side wheels were 12 in. in diameter, and ran on angle iron rails. The trolley weighed exactly half a ton, and this weight was so distributed that 5 cwt. came on the center wheel and 5 cwt. on the two side wheels. Both axles were fitted with gear, so that either could be revolved. A rope was attached to the trolley and let over a pulley fixed to the ground, and thence over another pulley fixed to a beam above. Weights were attached to the end of the rope until the wheels began to slip, and it was thus found that the large wheel had more than three times the tractive force of the small wheels. A similar car, but of narrower gauge, was then built, and propelled by a Siemens dynamo acting through two sets of spur gear on to the large wheel. The current was generated by another dynamo, and conveyed along the line by two conductors consisting of angle iron and copper wire placed on insulators in a central underground trough. The next experimental line was laid in a field near the works of Messrs. Smith, Baker & Co., of Manchester, and consisted of a track 4 ft. 8 1/2 in. gauge, 110 yards long. A full-sized street tramcar was constructed for it, and since the immediate object of the experiments was to obtain data applicable to a tramway line where no steep gradients occurred, the center wheel was abandoned, sufficient tractive force being obtained by the ordinary tramcar wheels. To provide for sharp curves, the driving axle was provided with differential gear as shown in Fig. 1, which is a sketch plan. M is a Siemens motor running at 650 revolutions per minute. E is a combination of box-gearing, friction clutch, and chain pinion, the steel chain passing on to the chain wheel, H, which is free to revolve on the axle, and which carries a differential pinion gearing with the bevel wheels, B1 B2. The latter is keyed to the sleeve of the loose tram-wheel, T2, while the former is keyed to the axle to which the second tram-wheel. T1, is firmly attached.

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The current passes from the underground central conductor by means of a collector, to be presently described, to the motor, and returns from the motor to an adjustable clip - Fig. 2 - to

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the axle, and thus to the rails which form the return circuit. The single central conductor, which was open to the objection that pebbles or dirt falling through the slot would lodge on it, has been replaced by two half circular conductors placed to each side of the center line, and anything falling into the slot passes between the conductors to the bottom of the trough. We illustrate this arrangement in Fig. 3,

Scientific_American_Supplement_1886Feb13Fig3.jpg (38.59 KiB) Viewed 1027 times

where L is the surface of the roadway. S S are the sleepers, and C C are cast iron chairs, which serve the double purpose of holding the angle irons, A A, which form the central slot in position, and of providing an attachment for the conductor, which consists of two half tubes of copper insulated from the chairs by the blocks, I I. To provide for expansion and contraction, the tubes are joined by special brass clamps, in which they can slide to a certain extent. The space, G, between the chairs can be flushed to remove obstructions which may have fallen into it, and sump holes - Fig. 4 -

Scientific_American_Supplement_1886Feb13Fig4.jpg (31.57 KiB) Viewed 1027 times

connected with the main street drains are provided at intervals. Hand holes are also provided for facility in cleaning the channel and in fixing the sliding collector. The latter we illustrate in Fig. 5. It consists essentially of two pairs of fluted metal rollers, which by means of a knuckle joint and spring are pressed into the semicircular conductor. If any small obstruction were to occur in one of them, it is assumed that the fluted roller would begin to revolve, and thus clear the tube. In case of a large obstruction which would stop the collector, the leather belts, CC, would break, and the clip, J, by which the current is conveyed to the car, would become detached. The motive power being thus withdrawn, the car comes to rest, thus calling the attention of the driver to the obstruction in the channel, which can then be removed by hand. The collector is provided with steel plates, which pass through the central slot, but are insulated from the frame of the collector. The upper ends of these plates are held in two iron cheeks, which serve to carry one part of the insulated clip, J, the other part being attached to a cable suspended from the car. Connection between the clip and the collector is made by insulated copper strips placed between the steel plates, as shown. There are two leather straps, one for the forward and the other for the backward movement of the car. These straps are just strong enough to overcome a slight obstruction, but in case of a heavy obstruction they break before any damage is done to any other part of the apparatus. They can be quickly replaced.

All the essential details here described we find again in the Blackpool electric tramway, but considerably simplified. The differential gear on the driving axle has been abandoned, and both wheels are fast on the axle. On page 8432 we show a sectional elevation, a sectional plan, and also a cross section of the car.

Scientific_American_Supplement_1886Feb13Ill.jpg (101.17 KiB) Viewed 1027 times

We also show a part section of the roadway in perspective, and various details relating to the conductor and collector. The conductor consists of two copper tubes of elliptical shape, and having a wide slot for facility of attachment to iron studs, which are supported in porcelain insulators. The latter themselves are attached to blocks of creosoted wood in the sides of the channel. The tubes are fixed to the studs by the simple device of a wooden pin wedge, and they are coupled to each other by two metallic wedges, as shown in our illustration. At each end of the case there is a switch box and resistance coils placed under the platforms, by which means the strength of the current and speed of car can be regulated. To reverse the direction in which the car is traveling, the direction of the current through the armature is reversed, the field magnets, which are shunt wound, remaining always magnetized in the same sense. With this arrangement there is no need to alter the position of the brushes, which in this case consist of two parallel sets of plates placed tangentially to the commutator, and pressed on it by spiral springs. There is only one handle to the two switch boxes, and that being in possession of the driver, the possibility of accidents caused by interference of others with the electrical connections is precluded. The current is generated by four-pole Elwell-Parker dynamos, which we have already described, and the motors are also manufactured by that firm.
- The Engineer.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
February 19, 1886

NOTES.
International Exhibition at Edinburgh. - One of the features of the exhibition will be the display of different systems of electric lighting. The incandescent lights in the main corridor are to be supplied by Messrs. King, Brown & Co. In the permanent building, as well as in several of the side courts, the Thomson-Houston system is to be introduced, while other sections of the exhibition are to be lighted by the Gulcher Electric Light Company, the Brush Light Company, and Messrs. Andrew & Co., Glasgow. The lighting of the grounds is still under consideration. Running parallel with the middle Meadow Walk an electric railway is to be fitted up by Mr. Holroyd Smith, of Halifax.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
February 26, 1886

Complaints against the Blackpool Tramway. - Gas and Water, in a recent issue, says :- "Complaints against gas companies, both on account of smoke and smells, are less common than they were some years ago, the reason being that in these days every care is exercised to remove objections to the process of gas manufacture. The tables are now being completely turned. Gas companies instead of standing in the place of the accused are entering the lists as complainers against the smoke nuisance. An instance of this kind has just occurred at Blackpool. The gasworks property in that fashionable watering place appears to have been damaged by "black smoke" proceeding from the chimney belonging to the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company, and the town clerk has been instructed by the council to call the attention of the company to the nuisance. When the subject was under discussion on Tuesday it transpired that formerly there had been numerous complaints about the smoke from the electric light engines, but the smoke from the tramways furnace had proved a greater nuisance. Settling down upon all newly painted surfaces, the soot completely neutralised the efforts of the gas manager to give a clean and tidy appearance to the works. Let us trust the nuisance will be removed. It would not be very seemly to find the providers of gas and electricity in a court of law on a question of this kind." We quite concur in the closing sentiment of our contemporary.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
July 16, 1886.

NOTES.
The Blackpool Electric Tramway. - Thus Mr. Holroyd Smith to a Blackpool paper: "But for the paragraph in your last issue (a copy of which has been forwarded to me) I should not have known what was 'whispered,' and shall feel obliged if you will give me an opportunity of contradicting it. My duties and connection with the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company have not ceased, as I still hold the position of consulting engineer, but am thankful to say that my professional services are seldom required, for the problems I had to solve have been reduced to such simplicity, that others, previously acquainted with mechanical science, can now undertake the arrangement."

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 27, 1886.

NOTES.
Tramcar Driving. - There is a well-known conundrum of Lord Dundreary fame which is thus stated :- Q. Why doth a dog waggle his tail? A. Because the dog is stronger than his tail; if it wasn't the tail would waggle the dog! Mr. Holroyd Smith has evidently taken this to heart for he says :- "The wheels have to drive the car, not the car to take the wheels; but as the car is heavier than the wheels, it is better therefore that the driving power should come from the car."

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
September 24, 1886.

THE BLACKPOOL ELECTRIC TRAMWAY.
The paper on the above read by Mr. Holroyd Smith at the recent meeting of the British Association is both interesting and instructive. In the various electric tram systems the energy is either conveyed from the generators to the car direct by an insulated conductor, or stored up in accumulators to be eventually placed on the car. Both systems have their advocates, but Mr. Smith has chosen the former method of propulsion, and his tramway bids fair to become an established success. A similar method is employed for working the tramway at Portrush, but there the conductor is elevated on a fence rail, which is quite out of the question for tramcars working in crowded thoroughfares. Since overhead conductors were deemed unsuitable, underground conductors had to be employed, and in consequence of their position numerous difficulties as regards insulation not hitherto experienced had to be met and overcome. It is impossible to read the paper without admiring the completeness with which the details have been worked out, or praising the persistent efforts which have been made to grapple with difficulties, mechanical and electrical. The history of the undertaking from its first conception to its final completion is an interesting one, and we doubt not that the last mechanical difficulty will be removed when Mr. Smith in future cars abandons the troublesome chain which will stretch, and the noisy spur gearing for the worm and wheel, by the use of which such good results have been already obtained in Mr. Reckenzaun's cars. The arrangement of spring brushes which Mr. Smith employs appears to be both simple and effective.

But the most important feature in a scheme like this is the insulation, for, given a good generator and a good motor with well designed reducing gear, the commercial value of the system depends very largely on the success which has attended the insulating of the conductor. In the Blackpool tramway the leakage at first sight seems excessive. Whether it could be reduced by any considerable amount by taking more care with the insulation we are not prepared to say, but it appears that a large amount of leakage - if not all in this case - is incidental to the system. The question of insulation assumes importance when we remember that it is one of the factors which will influence the final determination as to whether the cars shall be propelled by a current direct from the generator or through the medium of accumulators.

The line conductor, when tested during construction, was found to have an insulation resistance of under 400 ohms per mile, which is very low. But now that the line is at work the insulation resistance - if insulation is not in this case a misnomer - is only 9 ohms. This falls to 2.5 ohms during the night from condensation of moisture, but it is said that half an hour's run in the morning is sufficient to raise it again from the lower to the higher figure. The proportion of current utilised to current wasted by leakage increases with the number of cars, since the leakage is a constant quantity, and the efficiency will therefore increase as the traffic increases. It is a pity that Mr. Smith's figures are given in such hap-hazard fashion, as from his paper we are quite unable to calculate the efficiency, but it is probable that by this method, when working with the full complement of cars, the energy delivered to the motors reaches 75 per cent. of that supplied by the generators even when we allow for the excessive leakage of the line. We cannot tell from Mr. Smith's paper what current was passing when he noted the fall of potential at the various points, but we trust figures will be forthcoming shortly so that we may judge of the system from a scientific standpoint.

On lines worked by the accumulator method the percentage of energy delivered up to the motors is much less than 80, and if experience shows the cost of construction and of maintenance to be reasonable, there will be great gain in direct working. That there are difficulties which assume greater proportions as the length of the line increases is certain, but for moderate lengths of line such as we have described they are easily got over, and for longer lines they may not be insurmountable.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
September 24, 1886.

NOTES.
Charles L. Baker & Co. - We understand that from the end of October next the firm of Smith, Baker and Co., of Manchester, will be known as Charles L. Baker and Co.; Mr. Holroyd Smith has retired therefrom, and Mr. Charles L. Baker, who was previously the managing partner, has now become the sole representative.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
November 12, 1886.

The Blackpool Tramway. - A party consisting of Mr. T. Shaw, M.P., Colonel Maude, V.C., C.B., Mr. W. Ward, and others, visited Blackpool a few days ago with the view of ascertaining the prospects of a company which it is proposed to form to acquire and develop Mr. Holroyd Smith's English patents.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
November 19, 1886.

NOTES.
Mr. Holroyd Smith Abroad. - We read the following in the journal La Loi of the 29th October, under the heading "Electrical Tramways:" An Englishman, Mr. Smith, has invented a system of electrical tramways which would be, it seems, an improvement upon that which is in operation at the Champs Elysees. Mr. Smith has transferred to one of his countrymen, Mr. Plint, the working of his invention, which is patented, in France. This gentleman has handed over the half of his rights to M. Goujon, a Frenchman. It was arranged that, in consideration of the advances which he would make to Mr. Plint, M. Goujon should have the whole property of the line, the machines, and the materials connected therewith. M. Goujon made the advances, the line was constructed, the inventor sent the machines, and the demonstration took place. It was scarcely finished before Mr. Smith wished to take back the machines and materials; he contends that he only lent them. M. Goujon maintains that he is rightly and duly proprietor, and wants to nominate an arbitrator and have the matter settled.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
December 3, 1886.

ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS COMING.
If all we read is true, and we have no reason to doubt it, we are bound to acknowledge that our trans-Atlantic cousins are far ahead of us in the application of electricity as a motive power for tramways, and though the systems in vogue may not bear the mark of originality, the spirit with which the various enterprises have been undertaken is truly characteristic of the nation. The number of electric tramways in the United States of America can be counted by dozens, most of which are working successfully, and with surprising economy, as will be seen by the statements published in our journal from time to time. Several of these lines have been in operation for a couple of years, others are of a more recent origin, and a few are still in the "experimental stage." The Americans are fond of systems, but as far as our own observations go, we often find it hard to distinguish between them; the differences consist not, as the uninitiated would suppose, in the application of various distinct principles, but more in the variation of designs, some of which, for the sake of "variety," are of extraordinary appearance, and the changes relate mostly to peculiarly-shaped details in the modes of suspension of motors under the cars, and in the mechanical gearing used between the motors and driving wheels.

We, in England, recognise systems mainly by the methods of transmitting electric energy; thus there is the system of using the rails as conductors, the use of separate conductors running alongside the rails or overhead; then, again, underground conductors; and finally, the system which does not require any conductor, but in which stored energy is carried within the car. It is a remarkable fact, one worthy of record, that with the exception of the accumulator system, none of the electrical tramways in England ever went through the "experimental stage." The lines at Brighton, Portrush, Bessbrook-Newry, Blackpool, and Ryde, were all built to commence traffic at once, and almost every one had proved successful from the commercial point of view, as well as highly popular. Experience had to be gained in each, but that experience had to be paid for at a rate which materially swelled the working expenses. That the accumulator system has not progressed, commercially, as rapidly as the conductor systems, is partly due to the longer time it took to bring the secondary battery to the requisite state of perfection, and partly to prejudices which could only be removed with great difficulty; but the successful experiments with cars of this description in Berlin, Hamburg, Antwerp, and Brussels, will go far to inspire confidence, and we look to an early development in the application of this system, as it lends itself admirably to any existing lines without alteration to the permanent way or public road.

The often raised objections to the weight of accumulators can no longer hold good, since it has been shown that the same does not exceed a ton and a quarter, or less than 25 per cent. of the total weight of car and passengers combined. Taking the losses arising through the several conversions of energy into consideration, the consumption of coal at the charging station need not exceed 6 lbs. per car mile, which at the rate of 16s. per ton amounts to barely one halfpenny for a two-horse car per mile run. But the amount of fuel consumed is really a small item in the working expenses of an electric tramway, therefore we need not say any more on this head. In the case of the Blackpool tramway, for instance, which is worked on Mr. Holroyd Smith's plan of underground conductors, the item of "coke, coal, and oil" in the balance sheet we publish on another page amounts to the insignificant sum of £270 13s. 5d., whilst the total working expenses are put down at £3,334 14s. 7d. The revenue account shows the sum of £5,125 17s. 3d. for the year ending October 31st.

We comment upon the working expenses elsewhere, and propose now to consider technical points only which bear upon the cost of the Blackpool tramway. The heaviest charge in the column of preliminary expenses is that for constructing the centre channel which carries the underground conductor with its electrical fittings, amounting to £8,354 14s. 3d., a remarkably heavy item considering that the line is barely two miles in length. It actually exceeds the sum of all the other important items, viz., buildings, engines, dynamos, motors, and 10 cars with their full equipment, by £1,045; the cost of the plant, rolling stock, tram shed, &c, amounting to only £7,309 8s. 2d. No doubt if a similar line had to be constructed now, the cost of this channel could be reduced considerably, perhaps by 30 per cent., but even then it would be large in comparison with the cost of accumulators, which, to do the same work with 10 cars, would not exceed £3,000 including a large reserve. The cost of Mr. Smith's underground channel is, however, only part of the expense which an existing tramway company would have, because of the necessity of removing the pavement and replacing it. Tramway directors and the public dread nothing more than interference with roads. But in the case of new tram lines the system of Mr. H. Smith will offer no difficulty in this respect and little extra expense. The depreciation of the underground conductor should be small, and if the line is short and well insulated the loss of energy will be comparatively trifling. We have already said that the consumption of fuel is only a fraction of the total working expenses. The depreciation of accumulators however is considerable in comparison with that of the underground conductor, but if we balance the greater depreciation in the one against the interest on the increased capital expenditure of the other, there will be little to dispute about. From various data in our possession we have come to the conclusion that in a well designed and properly managed electric tramway, whether worked on the conductor system or on the accumulator system, the cost of traction, inclusive of depreciation, need not exceed three pence per car mile. This estimate, however, is based upon the employment of cars capable of carrying 40 to 46 passengers on average tram lines with reasonable gradients, such as occur in London, and providing that the conductors are of less than three miles in length, or in the case of accumulators carried upon the car, that the dead weight does not exceed 1 1/2 tons. Each system has its own advantages, each will find its application according to circumstances, and we are convinced that electric traction on tramways will ere long receive as much attention in England as it is already receiving in America.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
December 3, 1886.

Correspondence.
A Warning to Inventors.
I notice in your issue of the 19th inst. a paragraph headed "Mr. Holroyd Smith Abroad," and think that in defence of myself and as a warning to others an account of what really happened should be published.

The facts briefly are these: Mr. Plint applied to me twelve months ago, wishing to negotiate for the purchase and working of my Continental patents, and introduced M. Goryon, a wealthy Frenchman, as prepared to supply him with the necessary purchase money, which was to be paid in periodical instalments after my system had been successfully demonstrated in France.

Mr. Plint undertook to defray all expenses connected with the demonstration.

In order that the outlay might be as little as possible I sold him all the plant used at the "Inventions" at half cost price; for this he paid me, and the work was proceeded with.

Mr. Plint ordered from me a new car, but when it was ready, wrote saying he could not pay for it before delivery, because M. Goryon, fearing failure, would not advance him any more money until he saw the car running. Having absolute confidence in success, I sent the car, and also a powerful compound wound dynamo to be used as generator. I waited nearly three weeks, and not hearing of their safe delivery went to Paris, and found my car, &c, in "Douane," and advanced Mr. Plint £80 to clear it, and hastened to get it upon the line. When there my suspicions being aroused, I made enquires, and found that M. Goryon had advanced Mr. Plint £1,200 for the demonstration work, and whether I was paid or not could claim my car and machinery if I permitted it to be unpacked and worked.

I at once took legal advice, and acting upon it, hired a piece of ground, and removed to it my car and machinery. Then having no agreement at all with M. Goryon, and learning that he was not bound to supply Mr. Plint with the necessary money to purchase my patents, and knowing that Mr. Plint could not purchase them himself, I insisted upon the cancelling of my agreement with him (Plint). I then hired from Mr. Plint the field where he had laid the rails, returned my car, and ran it to the satisfaction of all who saw it. Before the time of rental expired I removed the car to my own land.

As no payment for my car was forthcoming, and no guarantee for the purchase money of my patents, I proceeded to warehouse my property in Paris. Then followed a series of complicated legal proceedings and annoyances that it is unnecessary to mention. It is, however, in some degree satisfactory to say that the French court has declared the car and machinery to be my property.

M. Holroyd Smith.
November 21th, 1886.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
December 17, 1886.

NEW COMPANIES REGISTERED.
Electric Tramways Construction and Maintenance Company, Limited. - Capital £250,000 in £1 shares. Object: To acquire the letters patent granted to Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, consulting and mechanical engineer, for improvements in tramways and railways and for the use of electricity as a motive power for tramcars. Signatories (with one share each) :- M. Holroyd Smith, Warley, near Halifax; A. F. Jennings, 3, Cheverton Road, Hornsey Lane; F. R. Wright, 115, Gresham House, E.C.; F. G. Summers, 21, Landcroft Road, East Dulwich; W. H. Handley, 5, Cambridge Terrace, West Green, N.; A. Kingsbury, Earlsfield Road, S.W.; F. H. W. Power, 56, Great Russell Street, W.C. The first directors are - A. J. Lambert. A. S. Bolton, G. F. Fry, Colonel Francis Cornwallis Maude, V.C., C.B., Thos. Shaw, M.P., and William Ward; qualification, £250 in shares or stock; remuneration, £500 per annum, with an additional £200 for each 1 per cent. of dividend above 10 per cent. per annum. Registered 8th inst. by Wilkins, Blyth & Co., 112, Gresham House.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
December 24, 1886.

Correspondence.
Electric Cars.
I feel it to be indirectly a compliment to have my name associated with Mr. Reckenzaun's, even though charged with being a copyist, and I admit at once that the success he achieved by the employment of worm gear encouraged me to adopt it on a large scale; but I must take exception to the statement that he was the first to use worm gearing for the propulsion of electric vehicles; it must have been a little forgetfulness on the part of the writer of the paragraph. Mr. Reckenzaun, I know, lays no claim to novelty.

In 1883 I had a little car driven by worm gearing, and Mr. L. J. Crossley, in the same year, also ran a car at Moorside on which worm gearing was employed. The novelty of the arrangement on my French car (not Blackpool) consists in combinations and details to avoid loss by excessive friction of the worm, overheating of the thrust block, and cross-strains by the ever varying relation between the motor and axle, and in the attainment of these objects I have been most successful.

Your illustration gives a capital idea of the general disposition of parts, but does not clearly indicate how the objects sought have been attained.

M. Holroyd Smith.
December 16th, 1886.

Meanwhile, back in Halifax, three years after the consortium won the right to put in a cable cars system, they could never get their act together, and in 1886 abandoned their efforts:

HALIFAX AND DISTRICTS TRAMWAYS. A.D. 1886.
Order authorizing the abandonment of the tramways authorised by the Halifax and Districts Tramways Order, 1883, and the release of the deposit fund paid into court on the application for the said Order.

1. This Order may be cited as "The Halifax and Districts Tramways (Release of Deposit) Order, 1886."

2. Whereas by the Halifax and Districts Tramways Order, 1883 (herein-after referred to as "the Order of 1883"), the Promoters of the said Order were authorised to construct the tramways therein described:

And whereas by the Order of 1883 it was provided that the carriages used on the said tramways might be moved (among other means) by mechanical power, including haulage by means of wire ropes placed underground, and worked by stationary engine power upon the system known as "the Hallidie system of cable tramways," which system, owing to the steep character of the streets of Halifax, is considered to be the only known mode of traction applicable to them:

And whereas, owing to technical difficulties unforeseen at the time when the Order of 1883 was applied for, it has been deemed impracticable to work the said tramways upon the said cable system, if constructed in accordance with the Order of 1883, and the plans deposited for the purposes thereof, and it is therefore expedient that the construction of the said tramways should be abandoned, and that provision should be made for the payment or transfer to the Promoters of the Order of 1883 of the deposit fund paid into court on the application for the said Order. Therefore,
(1.) The Promoters of the Order of 1883 shall abandon the construction of the tramways authorised by the said Order; (2.) The Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice shall, on the application of the Promoters of the Order of 1883, order the sum of one thousand six hundred and fifty-one pounds, which, pursuant to the provisions of the Tramways Act, 1870, and the regulations of the Board of Trade made under the authority of the said Act, was paid, in relation to the tramways authorised by the Order of 1883, into the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice to the credit of ex parte the undertaking of the Halifax and Districts Tramway, 1883, together with any interest or dividends due and payable thereon to be paid out or transferred to the said Promoters, or as they shall direct, and thereupon such sum, together with any such interest or dividends, shall be so paid out or transferred as aforesaid.

Halifax did finally get their tramways up and running... in 1898. Electric, of course. Maybe shoulda listened to Holroyd!

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[Lock]

Scientific American Supplement
January 8, 1887

THE BLACKPOOL ELECTRIC TRAMWAY.
There appears to be no doubt that in the future, and in quite a near one, propulsion upon tramways in large cities will be effected by electricity; and it would be superfluous to once again set forth the numerous advantages peculiar to this mode of actuating cars.

The only question is to know what system to give preference to, and as regards this, those at present in operation are giving some valuable information.

Three general systems are now being worked : (1) The accumulator system, applied at Hamburg, and in course of application at Brussels, and which we have recently described ; (2) the underground conductor system; and (3) the aerial conductor system, which has been applied in a few American cities, and which we shall some day speak of again.

The second system already comprises several varieties, all of which do not offer to the same degree the qualities that are indispensable for rendering the application practical, that is to say, safety for the public, advantageous utilization, and economical operation.

It is unnecessary to say that in all cases where the roadway is not exclusively reserved for the travel of vehicles (and this is the case where tramways properly so called are concerned), the use of two rails as conductors is impossible. It is then necessary to have recourse to an insulated conductor laid between the two rails, which latter serve in common as a return conductor. But the conditions to be fulfilled in the establishment and practical operation of a road thus constituted are numerous and difficult, and are thus summarized by Mr. Holroyd Smith, the inventor of the system which we are about to describe:

A. Conditions Relative to the Conductors. - The electrical conductors must be protected, and so arranged that it shall be possible to establish and maintain a permanent and sure contact. The insulation must be sufficient, and easy to clean and renew. It must be easy to inspect and to regularly clean the road, in order to remove such ordinary or accidental dirt as is capable of interfering with the conductors. There must be special arrangements for crossings and bifurcations, in order to avoid short circuits or interruptions.

B. Conditions Relative to the Sliding Collector. - There must be arrangements for maintaining a permanent contact, and for avoiding any mechanical or electrical accident in, case the conductor should get obstructed.

C. Conditions Relative to the Motor. - The motor must be of a peculiar structure, to permit it to withstand the numerous, and sometimes severe, ordeals of service. The actuating of the driving wheels must be as easy and as silent as possible, with slight loss in transmission. There must be electrical and mechanical arrangements to allow the motor to operate equally well in both directions, and be controlled at either end of the car. The mechanism must be simple, in order that the whole may be understood and maneuvered by an ordinary workman. Precautions must be taken against any serious damage in case of an error commited by the conductor.

D. General Conditions. - The production at the station must be sufficient, and be regulated. Precautions must be taken against accidental short circuits. There must be no long stoppages in case of accidents.

We can now enter upon a description of the system applied at Blackpool, an experimental trial of which was made near Maillot gate, at Paris, about two months ago.

The Line. - The Blackpool tramway line is about two miles in length. The electrical station is located near the center, this being the most advantageous situation from an electrical point of view. The line happens to be established under extraordinarily unfavorable circumstances, since it runs along the seashore, and in bad weather, although the level of the rails is above that of high tide, the waves sometimes submerge it. In such a case, it is unnecessary to say that operations have to be suspended, the insulated conductor being thus put in communication with the earth. The return is effected through the ordinary rails and the rims of the wheels.

Cars. - The cars are ten in number, and are of various forms. The lightest are summer cars, and are open and capable of seating twenty-six passengers. The largest, which are provided with seats on the roof, accommodate fifty-six persons. It is one of these that is represented in Fig. 1.

Scientific_American_1887Jan8Fig1.jpg (65.71 KiB) Viewed 889 times

The Motor. - The motor is of the Elwell-Parker type, excited in series, and capable of revolving in both directions without a renewal of the brushes. Change of direction is effected by changing the direction of the current in the armature, thus reversing the direction of revolution. The driving axle is actuated by an endless screw that acts upon a helicoidal pinion, reducing, through this sole intermedium, the angular speed of 18 on the shaft of the motor to 1 upon the axle of the driving wheels.

This mode of actuating, which seems as if it ought to absorb an important fraction of the power produced by the electric motor, has, on the contrary, given so satisfactory results that the inventor has the intention of employing it exclusively on all the new cars.

Fig. 2 shows the principal arrangements of the central conductor, of the motor, of the collector, and of the endless-screw driving gear, which constitute the principal parts of the system.

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The central conductor lies in a sort of rectangular cast iron trough set into a pavement of creosoted wood and resting upon iron supports placed at certain distances apart. This conductor, which is formed of two strips of copper bent into tubular form and slit in the direction of a generatrix, is held by porcelain insulators fixed to the supports. It is in the space between these two tubes that slides the collector that leads the current to the motor. The longitudinal slit in the pavement above the iron channel is narrower than the interval between the two copper tubes. The object of such an arrangement is to allow stones and other objects to fall to the bottom without being arrested by the conductors. The junctions between the conductors are made by means of brass cylinders that exactly fill the hollow of the tubes. The current collector consists of three parts, viz., of an insulated strip of metal to which is attached a cross piece that serves to guide it in the slit and prevent it from wedging. The current is taken up by two curved pieces of bronze, each of which embraces a part of the two conducting tubes and exerts a permanent contact. The central piece is carefully insulated, and leads the current to the motor through a flexible wire attached to the piece just mentioned by a peculiar sleeve having the following functions: When the front portion of the guide meets but a slight obstacle, it pushes it away and continues its travel; but when the obstacle (such, for example, as a large iron spike driven in by malicious persons, as was done at the first experiments at Blackpool) is resistant, the traction rope of the collector becomes disengaged, as does also the sleeve that affords an electric communication between the motor and collector. This latter stops, and the car continues its travel by virtue of the velocity that it has acquired, and stops a little further along; so all breakage is thus avoided. It is only necessary to remove the obstacle, hook on the rope again, and fix the electric sleeve, in order that everything shall be again in running order.

Starting Gear. - The starting and stopping of the motor are controlled by a commutator which has the effect of introducing into the circuit variable and gradually increasing or decreasing resistances. There are two maneuvering boxes placed at the two ends of the car, but only one of these can be used at a time, since the current enters neither until a key has first been inserted. Each car is provided with but one of these keys. It is an application of the block system, known in England as the "staff system."

The central station is provided with two dynamos separately excited by two other machines of smaller size. Each of the generating machines is capable of producing 300 volts and 180 amperes at a maximum. In practice, the effective potential varies between 220 volts near the station and 170 at one of the extremities. The difference is due to the imperfect insulation of the line.

Such are the principal features connected with the operation of the Blackpool electrical tramway. The sole objection that can be urged against the system resides in the cost of first laying the central conductor, and in the losses that it occasions. Is it better to invest this capital in a special road, or an equivalent capital in accumulator? Something may be said for and against both systems, and it will be interesting to keep track of the applications made at Hamburg and Blackpool of each. They will afford some useful information upon the question, and will probably give an economic solution upon which will depend the practical extension of that system which is found to be the more advantageous. - La Nature.

The Electrical World
February 19, 1887

APPLICATIONS OF POWER.
The Holroyd Smith System of operating street cars by electricity, now in use successfully at Blackpool, Eng., is offered for introduction in this country.

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The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
March 11, 1887

CORRESPONDENCE.
Electric Tramways in America.
I have read with interest your description of the "Bentley-Knight system" (?) of electric tramways.

Amongst the details of design and construction as illustrated in your Journal, both in connection with the track and the collector, which I suppose Messrs. Bentley and Knight will claim to have worked out, I fail to see anything which is not illustrated or described in one or other of my numerous blue books.

In the B.-K. "system," as in the one laid in Philadelphia, not only the good points of my earlier work, but some of my errors, also, are copied, and I venture to predict that if the Fulton Street line is laid in strict accordance with the description and illustrations you give, it will, like the one in Philadelphia, prove a failure.

The sample track laid by me in Manchester in 1884 was pronounced by all who saw it, both engineers and electricians, as thoroughly satisfactory, but had I been of the same opinion and constructed the Blackpool line in a similar manner it would not have been a practical success. The Fulton Street design has in it a detail similar to the one that led me to abandon my Manchester section.

I notice from the Sprague correspondence that your paper is read on the other side, and therefore take this opportunity of stating that should the Fulton Street line be laid as shown, without my patents being recognised, I shall commence proceedings for infringement.

M. Holroyd Smith.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
March 18, 1887

Electric Tramways in America. - In reply to the letter upon this subject by Mr. Holroyd Smith in the Review last week, we have received the following from "A Shareholder of the Bentley-Knight Electric Railway Company of New York," too late for insertion in the proper place :- " Letters to public journals are so often used as a means of cheap advertisement that a reply to Mr. Smith may be only working into his hands to effect that purpose; but such considerations must not deter me from answering his letter relative to the Bentley-Knight system of electric tramways which appears in your issue of the 11th inst. He, with that characteristic modesty which is appreciated by all who know him, indicates that nothing else exists as a system (?) outside the inventions of his own fruitful brain, and we may be pardoned in the public interest for presuming to disturb his assumptions. Looking at the history of electric tramways, we see no reason for discounting the independent efforts of other inventors than Mr. Smith, nor for considering him as the only practical pioneer of this important branch of engineering. Successful work in Paris at the Exhibition of 1881 demonstrated the electric tramway as an accomplished fact, while in America Edison, Daft, Adams and others had made similar progress, but at this date Mr. Smith had not yet turned his master mind to this subject. It was not till considerably later that the magnificent idea dawned on Mr. Smith (after seeing the Halliday cable system of conduits) that conductors might be laid similarly in conduits, and in lieu of a grip, a sliding contact should be introduced to operate a motor to propel a tram car!! And here was the germ of rendering electric traction practicable. From that date other systems, such as the Portrush, Volk's, Siemens's in England, besides numerous American and European inventions, were as nothing and Mr. Smith's everything, and so according to his letter it is at present. It now only remained for Mr. Smith to put his ideas into practice. Experiments with apparatus at Halifax, information gleaned from manufacturers of dynamos who hoped in the future to be able to obtain orders for the same work at Blackpool Winter Gardens, paid for by others who enjoyed nothing beyond that privilege, all helped rapidly to advance the "system" Smith; and to-day we learn that American inventors must pause ere they venture on work involving ideas entertained before even Mr. Smith's advent, or they may be dealt with as infringers of his valuable patents. It may be a readier and cheaper way for this notice to be given us by Mr. Smith through your journal than by a solicitor, but when it does come otherwise we shall be ready to deal with it at the proper place and time."

The Electrical World
April 23, 1887.

Correspondence.
The Bentley-Knight Electric Railway System in England.We have received from the Bentley-Knight Electric Railway Company the following copy of a communication addressed to the London Electrical Review:

"We have read with considerable interest the communication from Mr. Holroyd Smith, lately published in the Review, and which refers to the Bentley-Knight electric tramways about to be constructed in Fulton street, N. Y., and elsewhere.

Mr. Smith assumes that he alone is the source of all original ideas in electric railways, especially conduit tramways, and that all other inventors but copy his devices. He furthermore "ventures to predict" the failure of the Bentley-Knight system, and threatens this company with the terrors of his patents.

In reply to his effusion, we beg to state that the likeness existing between the Bentley-Knight and Smith systems begins and ends with the fact that in both a conduit is used.

Mr. Smith is not the originator of the conduit road. Years before he became an inventor it was first described in a U. S. patent, and that patent must have been introduced into England, in regular course of transmission, long before his alleged conception of the idea.

The Bentley-Knight system is, moreover, not a matter of speculative success, but has been proved reliable and practical by nearly four years of actual operation under the severest conditions.

Neither the "blue-books" of Mr. Smith, nor his U. S. patents, have any more bearing on Bentley-Knight railways than a Papal Bull would have. He has three trivial patents in the United States limited to the smallest details of his device, which were taken out long after the Bentley-Knight system was in operation, and which are not infringed upon by it.

Both Mr. Bentley and Mr. Knight were at one time experts in the electrical division of the U. S. patent office, and know perfectly well how strong their position is. Mr. Smith is cordially invited to bring suit on his patents at the earliest moment; and we beg, furthermore, to say that this company, having patented its devices throughout all Europe, contemplates an early entry into England with its system, and sincerely hopes to have the pleasure of exhibiting to Mr. Smith a thoroughly practical railway upon which he can use his "blue-books" at will.

Robt. W. Blackwell, G. M.

The company add: As an afterthought, we beg to inclose herewith clippings from the English Electrical Review, which appeared in that paper March 18, the week following Mr. Smith's amusing composition to which we have referred. The gentleman who composed it is evidently a profound admirer of Mr. Smith personally, his system and his business methods.

"Letters to public journals are so often used as a means of cheap advertisement that a reply to Mr. Smith may be only working into his hands to effect that purpose; but such considerations must not deter me from answering his letter relative to the Bentley-Knight system of electric tramways which appears in your issue of the 11th inst. He, with that characteristic modesty which is appreciated by all who know him, indicates that nothing else exists as a system (?) outside the inventions of his own fruitful brain, and we may be pardoned in the public interest for presuming to disturb his assumptions. Looking at the history of electric tramways, we see no reason for discounting the independent efforts of other inventors than Mr. Smith, nor for considering him as the only practical pioneer of this important branch of engineering. Successful work in Paris at the Exhibition of 1881 demonstrated the electric tramway as an accomplished fact, while in America Edison, Daft, Adams and others had made similar progress, but at this date Mr. Smith had not yet turned his master mind to this subject. It was not till considerably later that the magnificent idea dawned on Mr. Smith (after seeing the Halliday cable system of conduits) that conductors might be laid similary in conduits, and in lieu of a grip, a sliding contact should be introduced to operate a motor to propel a tram car!! And here was the germ of rendering electric traction practicable. From that date other systems, such as the Portrush, Volk's, Siemens' in England, besides numerous American and European inventions were as nothing and Mr. Smith's everything, and so according to his letter it is at present. It now only remained for Mr. Smith to put his ideas into practice. Experiments with apparatus at Halifax, information gleaned from manufacturers of dynamos who hoped in the future to be able to obtain orders for the same work at Blackpool Winter Gardens, paid for by others who enjoyed nothing beyond that privilege, all helped rapidly to advance the 'system' Smith; and today we learn that American inventors must pause ere they venture on work involving ideas entertained before even Mr. Smith's advent, or they may be dealt with as infringers of his valuable patents.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
April 29, 1887

Why? - It is a little difficult to understand the exact amount of credit which Mr. Holroyd Smith desires for original work in electric locomotion. We have time and again seen him claiming to have long known and used methods now principally associated with the systems of others, but whether or not he seriously claims to have anticipated everybody else in these matters, we are totally unable to say. For instance, at the Society of Arts last week Mr. Smith complimented Mr. Reckenzaun "on not having brought forward his claim as being the first to use worm gearing on large tramcars." This reads like a compliment to modesty - certainly well deserved - and an acknowledgment of precedency; but the phraseology which follows is so curious that we leave it to our readers to solve for themselves what, we confess, is to us a puzzle. Mr. Smith proceeded: - "...although he (Mr. Smith) had used it on a small experimental car before, but he did not venture to adopt it for large cars until he saw Mr. Reckenzaun was successful." Now, does Mr. Smith mean that Mr. Reckenzaun is to be commended for not claiming the credit which is his due for having worked out a matter which was before in doubt, or does he wish to suggest that to himself belongs the credit because he had done the same thing before? If he really believed worm gearing to be the most useful method, why did he not adopt it in real work and thus prove by demonstration that he was first in the field with that particular device?

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
May 6, 1887

CORRESPONDENCE
Pollak and Binswanger's Tramway.
It is interesting to learn from your illustrations and description of the "magnetic" system of tramway propulsion advocated by Messrs. Pollak and Binswanger, that they have advanced further in its development than the diagram exhibited at the Society of Arts, when Mr. Reckenzaun read his admirable paper, would lead anyone who had studied the subject to suppose; far enough, one would think, for them to admit the correctness of the statement I then made, viz., that a line constructed in accordance with that diagram would not work successfully.

It is to be regretted that my remarks should be taken as unfavourable to the system when I consider it a promising one, but like everything else, largely dependent upon the design of its various details and the care with which they are carried out.

M. Holroyd Smith.
May 4th, 1887.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
May 13, 1887

NOTES.
The Bentley-Knight Electric Railway. - In the Electrical World of New York for April 23rd, there appears what purports to be a copy of a communication said to be sent by the Bentley-Knight Electric Railway Company to ourselves in reference to Mr. Holroyd Smith's letter, which appeared in our issue of March 11th. Up to the present no such communication has reached us.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
July 1, 1887

ABSTRACTS OF PUBLISHED SPECIFICATIONS, 1886.
5664. "Improvements in and connected with electric motors and the transmission of power therefrom." M. Holroyd Smith. Dated April 24. 8d. Claims :- 1. For electrically driven rail or tramway cars the means of transmitting the power from the electric motors consisting of the worm and worm wheel and thrust block, all enclosed in a suitable casing, substantially as described and as illustrated in the drawings. 2. For electrically driven rail or tramway cars the method of swinging or suspending the motor under the car in such a manner as to allow for all movements of the car and axles, substantially as set forth. 3. In the transmission of power from an electric motor to any positive gearing upon a rail or tramway car the use of a flexible coupling between the said motor and gear, substantially as set forth. 4. In the transmission of power from an electric motor to any positive gearing upon a rail or tramway car the combination with the flexible coupling between said motor and gearing of flexible attachments between the motor yoke or frame and the gearing casing or bearings, substantially as described.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 5, 1887

BLACKPOOL ELECTRIC TRAMWAY.
A SHORT time since the working of this tramway electrically was unavoidably stopped, and the line had to be horsed, but now a portion is again being worked electrically, as far as the south pier northwards from the generating station, and southwards along the south shore. The great loss of current due to leakage, principally at the insulators, has been a source of trouble for some time past. But the recent interruptions have been due to "want of continuity," or faults caused by the late excessive heat. The C-shaped tubes have expanded with the great heat, carried away the supporting bolts, and doubled up. This was a fault which was pointed out at the commencement of the construction of the line as almost sure to happen as the result of fixing the conductors without due regard to the known laws of expansion. The attention of the directors was called to this, and the engineer made some slight apparent alteration. When the conducting tubes were first laid down they were soldered together, but a week's experience showed that they would not stand contraction, for at that time the weather was very cold. Subsequently the tubes were jointed by a pair of wedges, semicircular on one side, which were wrapped with lead foil and hammered well together, a space varying from half to one quarter of an inch being left between the tubes. These joints made the tubes almost solid at that point, and consequently but little play was left for either expansion or contraction.

During the first summer and also that of last year the heat was not abnormal, and no inconvenience was suffered, but the late continuous excessive heat has developed the fault that was predicted, teaching the lesson that in any underground system of electrically working tramways, provision should be made for the effects of temperature. A range from the greatest heat to the lowest cold should be provided for. Now that the electric channel of the Blackpool tramway has to be thoroughly overhauled, it would be advisable to entrust the work to a good practical telegraph engineer, and, furthermore, it would be wise at the same time to test all the insulators before they are fixed. In that case, it is probable the line may possess some amount of insulation, a quality admittedly necessary, and yet one which, if the published accounts are correct, is conspicuously wanting.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 12, 1887

The report of Mr. Holroyd Smith on the defective arrangements which have been allowed to exist in the Blackpool electrical tramline will be read with feelings akin to those produced upon one's risible faculties when immersed in Mark Twain's or Bret Harte's comicalities. The method of testing for faults by treating the whole system to a cold sea bath, and then warming it up until it all ends in smoke, is both original and simple; and we scarcely know which is the more amusing, the actual test or the gravity with which Mr. Smith questions the prudence of the course adopted.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 12, 1887

NOTES.
Conductors for Electric Tramlines.—So far as one is capable of judging from the results of actual experience, it looks as if underground conductor systems are not so easily managed and kept in order as those which are put a little above ground or overhead. Accidents, fatal to quadrupeds, have happened, both in the United Kingdom and in America from the last-mentioned systems, but such occurrences can with ordinary care be avoided, while the cost of maintenance must be considerably less, taking the Blackpool line as an example of the buried conductor method.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 12, 1887

CORRESPONDENCE.
The Blackpool Tramway.
Your article on the breakdown of the Blackpool electrical tramway is somewhat misleading, inasmuch as the insulators themselves are solely at fault. These insulators I supplied to specification when the line was built, and, although I had my opinion as to their practicability, it was not my business to interfere. However, the cemented iron studs have not only split a great number of the insulators, causing serious leakage, but have almost corroded away at the main point of support. My firm has been entrusted with the work of making an entirely new form of insulator, of my own design, and which will, I think, overcome the whole difficulty and make the system, what it was before the old insulators failed, a very successful one.

J. Slater Lewis.
Britannia Telegraph Works, Helsby,
Cheshire, August 9th, 1887.

-----------------------

I have only to-day seen your leading article in the Electrical Review of August 5th; from it I find that though I was requested to keep things as quiet as possible "for the good of the company," a version has been given you, and I therefore hasten to send you a copy of my report to the directors relative to an inspection made on the 22nd June, and regret very much that I complied with the request made me and withheld it so long.

M. Holroyd Smith.
August 9th, 1887.

[COPY.]
Royal Insurance Buildings, Halifax,
June 27th, 1887.
Gentlemen, - On the 22nd inst. I received the following letter and telegram from Mr. James Broadbent, managing-director of the Blackpool Electric Tramway :-

"June 21st, 1887.

"Mr. M. H. Smith.

"Dear Sir, - Will you please come over here by the first train you can get. We have had to stop two days together in the heat of the day; all our power is going and we cannot move along, we think it is the expansion of the tubes with the excessive heat. Please come at once, and oblige

"Yours truly,

"Jas. Broadbent."

Telegram.

"All cars stopped, come at once. - Broadbent."

I went by the 1.20 p.m. train, and on arrival at Blackpool found as above stated that the cars were stopped. I met Mr. Broadbent at the shed. He told me that everything was right at the engine house, and that the fault was in the line.

The Wheatstone's bridge and galvanometer used for testing conductivity and insulation have evidently not been made use of for some time, and were not in proper working order.

I had considerable difficulty in taking any readings owing to the multiple switchboard having been removed, and no substitute for measuring purposes being provided. [See note B.]

I was informed that none were ever taken. The voltmeter and ammeter were still in position and means provided for taking readings from them, but having no opportunity of examining the coupling I have to assume they were correctly made, and believe them to be so.

These instruments require periodical correction. No test since that of Major Armstrong, on behalf of the Board of Trade, has ever been made to my knowledge.

The measurements I took with the Wheatstone's bridge and galvanometer when calculated did not agree with the voltmeter, but showed it to be indicating less than the actual E.M.F.

I asked for the "detector," a small instrument for use on the line, and when produced found it to be without battery. One of the men occasionally uses it with the aid of one of the accumulators for lighting the car; this is not only heavy and troublesome to carry about, but is a risky proceeding. It was therefore impossible for me to make tests upon the line itself, even had I been given an opportunity of doing so.

The cars could not work because of the enormous leakage of electricity throughout the line, due to defective insulation.

As the weather was, and for some time has been hot and dry, such a condition ought not to exist.

Mr. Broadbent attributed it entirely to bad insulators, and I was informed that during the winter many of them cracked "through the frost" and had to be removed. Mr. Lancaster said that they had taken out 30, 50, and at many as 90 a day.

On enquiry if they had been replaced with new ones, "No, not all, we have put in some when we had time."

"When you remove an insulator, do you take out the iron stud?" "Not always."

Mr. Broadbent said that now they replaced every other one. On a portion of the line near Carter's saleroom, where some of the men were working, I noticed five yards of tube without support, the tube was touching the bottom of the channel.

Without removing the surface of the channel throughout its entire length it is impossible to speak positively, but I am strongly of opinion that in many places the copper conductors are "making earth" by touching the side or bottom of the channel themselves, or by means of some old insulator studs left in, when the insulators were removed.

It is much to be regretted that the renewal of insulators has not been more systematically done.

The rapid failure of insulators since the line passed out of my control, or the supervision of an electrician, needs explanation.

In the paper read by me before the British Association last year, descriptive of the Blackpool line, I there state that the electromotive force usually employed is 220 volts.

"The average working loss through leakage may be taken at 25 amperes, which at an electromotive force of 220 volts is equal to 7.2 horse-power. At the commencement much trouble and annoyance resulted from the faulty construction previously referred to; but now, by watchfulness and adjustment, any hindrance to working can be avoided."

I adopted the E.M.F. of 220 volts because I considered it the limit to which it was safe to go.

When the rails are permitted to get very dirty, it is difficult, with this potential, to send sufficient current into the cars to make them run quickly.

I found a much higher voltage had been used, probably to force the current through the dirt.

The voltmeter in the shed on Thursday indicated over 270 volts, and as before mentioned I believe it to be indicating below the mark, my calculations, assuming the Wheatstone bridge to be correct, made the E.M.F. to be over 300 volts.

I was informed that it had been the practice to employ this high E.M.F. since last autumn.

I would draw special attention to the fact that the Board of Trade limit the E.M.F. to 250 volts.

I have no hesitation in saying that the destruction of insulators is mainly due to the excess of electrical potential.

The ammeter indicated a loss of over 130 amperes, this means a waste of more than 50 horse-power.

The danger has been further illustrated by the destruction of coils in the armature of one of the generating dynamos; such an event did not occur when the E.M.F. of 220 volts was employed. Again referring to my "paper" I there state:- "Extra currents would have a tendency to destroy insulation and would be otherwise injurious."

On Wednesday night Mr. Broadbent instructed the men at 5 o'clock in the morning to flood the line with salt water, then to start the dynamos, and where they saw the road smoke, indicating a faulty insulator, to dig it out. I questioned the prudence of this course, the consequences are predeterminable, for assuming an insulator to have a slight flaw, if it fills with salt water, and a strong current is rapidly forced through it, the sudden heat generated will crack the insulator and make it useless.

If this method of detecting faulty insulators be used at all, fresh water should be employed, and the engines be run slowly, sending a small current of low potential.

Mr. Broadbent wished me to give him an idea as to how to remedy the defects, and I described, as well as I could, a means for doing so, and upon his instructions have prepared models to illustrate the same, which I shall be pleased to submit to the directors at any time.

I consider it absolutely necessary that the line be re-insulated as soon as possible, as a breakdown in the height of the season fast approaching would be most serious. The re-insulation can be done without hindrance to traffic.

I am, yours obediently,

M. Holroyd Smith.

Note.—It was suggested that the stoppage was due to expansions; on this point I again refer to my "paper." "The tubes are connected one with the other by wedges made of drawn brass, exactly fitting the inside of the tube. Space is left between the ends to allow for expansion and contraction, and the wedges are secured from shifting by a wrapping wire."

I found upon enquiry that when these wedges have been removed to "break connection," a process frequently necessary, the "wrapping with wire" has been neglected.

Note B. - Extract from paper: "Though a multiple plug switch is somewhat too complicated for ordinary workmen, it forms in the hands of an experienced electrician a perfect means of regulating the direction of the currents from the two generators through the various instruments, and to and from the line. A little watchfulness is necessary, especially before running both machines at the same time, as they have occasionally changed their polarity."

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 19, 1887

THE BLACKPOOL TRAMWAY.
From the correspondence published last week in our columns it will be seen that the breakdown of the electrical working of the Blackpool Tramway is ascribed entirely to the failure of the insulators; but, according to information we have received from eyewitnesses, expansion has had a great deal to do with the stoppage. The statements contained in Mr. Holroyd Smith's extraordinary and invaluable report disclose a state of affairs almost incredible, and which can be but slightly realised even when it is known that there was a total absence of any kind of technical supervision whatever on the Blackpool system.

The manner in which the broken insulators have been removed, and their places unfilled seems to have been known to the managing director, aud allowed to go on until such time as a total stoppage rendered some action necessary, and Mr. Smith was sent for. It may well be asked why was not some such step taken earlier, but we suppose that it was considered only necessary to look after the receipts, and that the line would look after itself.

This tramway has made history very rapidly, and we cannot help contrasting the present outlook with the situation at the time of the second annual meeting on the 27th November last. At this meeting a special vote of thanks was moved for the past services of the managing director. Mr. Broadbent, in replying, is reported in the local paper to have said "they all knew that twelve months since they dared not think what was before them, and he could tell them it had been extremely uphill work to bring the company to its present position." "They were told some time back that the company would never be able to run from one end to the other, but they made up their minds that it should go, and go it did. He could tell them they would have a better dividend next year, for now they were making things for themselves at a cost of about 5s. which previously they had to pay £1 or 25s. for, and they had also got over the difficulty of carrying a weight in a satisfactory manner." Later on the managing director was good enough to show how the company had been saved the expense of an electrician. We wonder how the directors will be prepared to meet the shareholders at the next annual meeting and justify the economic action which has helped to retard what promised to be a remunerative concern.

Setting on one side the question of material employed, and various defective arrangements, there can be no doubt whatever but that the present disastrous state of affairs has been brought about by the suicidal policy of the directors in leaving the management of the line entirely without any technical assistance. Even an ordinary telegraph inspector or lineman would have had the common sense to have known what was required to be done when insulator after insulator failed. Such stupendous stupidity is without parallel; and this was the electric tramway that was to be the pioneer of similar lines throughout the kingdom.

One word about the insulators which have been allowed to bring the line to grief, as their history furnishes some matter for consideration and thought. In the specification for the electrical work the following occurs:- "The insulator to be of porcelain, or other material of a nature to stand changes of temperature, action of sea water, and vibration. The insulating property must be such that when a mile of track is laid the resistance shall not be less than 1,000 megohms." This was the specification of Mr. Holroyd Smith, the patentee, and also engineer of the line. The contract for all the electrical work was given to the firm of Messrs. Smith (Holroyd), Baker & Co., of Manchester, and the earthenware insulators were manufactured and supplied by Mr. J. Slater Lewis according to the specification. This insulator was different from any ordinary telegraph insulator, for whereas in the latter the iron bolt supports the insulator, in the former the insulator supports the bolt to which the copper conductor is secured by a wooden pin. Iron and copper in contact in a moist sea water atmosphere! The insulator was fixed in a thick wooden board about a yard apart, with its extreme end exposed outside the wood to the earth. This end was unglazed, and the whole arrangement such as any practical telegraph engineer would at once disapprove of as unsuited for telegraph working; how much more unsuited would it be when the powerful currents to be used are considered!

It is needless to point out that these insulators, inserted in their places without having been tested, failed to give satisfactory results, and that the insulation resistance as given by Mr. Holroyd Smith some time after the line was working, was abnormally low. The report we inserted shows that all insulation has vanished, and that this line now only in its second year of working, has to be completely re-insulated before it can be again in proper electric working order. Having in this very short space of time gathered some very important experiences, it is to be hoped that the directors will profit by them and in future endeavour to carry out the working of the line under the management of some person who, in addition to common sense, will have some practical electrical knowledge.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 19, 1887

MR. HOLROYD SMITH regrets that we published his letter with the report on the Blackpool Tramway. It was not addressed to the "The Editors" but to the firm. Now, as we have journalistic matters sent indiscriminately to "The Editors," the firm, and to our individual selves, we can only conclude that any communication bearing upon such subjects, unless marked private, which was not the case with the letter in question, are sent for publication.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 19, 1887

CORRESPONDENCE.
Blackpool Electric Tramway.
Seeing in your issue of the 5th inst. a reference to the above, and having recently examined the line on behalf of the tramway company, perhaps a few remarks may not be out of place.

The expansion of the copper tubes referred to has also had another, and, perhaps more serious result, viz., the cracking of the insulators themselves.

This is owing to the skids connected with them being firmly keyed to the tube, and consequently participating in the motion caused by the expansion of the same.

In the design(?) of the insulators no arrangement has been made to keep a dry surface, or to prevent the creeping of the pitch, mud, &c, which runs down the side of the channel, and in many cases extends over the surface to the iron studs themselves, thus affording a ready path for the leakage of the current. The channel, being so narrow, offers great obstacles to the employment of a properly-designed insulator.

I took the trouble to test a number of the insulators, both new and old, and found that with the full E.M.F. employed there was no leakage through the mass of the insulator, even after soaking for 24 hours in acidulated water, and with the glaze chipped off in some cases, thus proving the material employed to have been of good quality.

The amount of loss on the line varies from 25 to over 100 amperes at the E.M.F. of 250 volts.

F. Bryan.
August 11th, 1887.

----------------

I notice that in his letter Mr. J. Slater Lewis states as regards the insulators used on this line, "although I had my opinion as to their practicability, it was not my business to interfere." This is, of course, after the event. But I think Mr. Lewis's opinion may very fairly be judged of these insulators, by the fact that every insulator was stamped "J. Slater Lewis, Birkenhead, Eng." It is known that the insulators were not tested after delivery; were they ever tested after manufacture?

In the new form of insulator about to be made, it would be found desirable to have those portions in contact with the earth glazed instead of unglazed as in the first form. It would be also desirable not to have the bolt fixed nearly through the insulator. At all events, it is to be trusted that it will be an "insulator," and test accordingly. "Experientia should docet."

Manchester

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 19, 1887

NEW PATENTS-1887.
11004. "Apparatus for the electrical propulsion of electrical tramcars, &c." M. H. Smith. Dated August 11.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 26, 1887

Accident on the Blackpool Tramway. - On Monday afternoon an elderly man was crossing the road on the sea front at Blackpool, when he was knocked down by one of the electric cars and killed. The wheels went over his stomach, nearly cutting him in two. He was attended by a doctor, but died almost immediately. The deceased was an excursionist, and, according to the testimony of eye-witnesses, when he found himself in the path of the electric car he became bewildered. The driver, who had already switched off the current, leaned forward, and tried to push him aside, but did not succeed.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 26, 1887

The Blackpool Tramway. - We are informed that the electric trams at Blackpool are now again in working order, and are running the whole distance of the line without the assistance of horse-power. The novelty has not worn off yet, and they have been better patronised this season than ever before.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 26, 1887

CORRESPONDENCE.
The Blackpool Electric Tramway.
I cannot allow the letter of "Manchester" to pass. I repeat that it was not my business to meddle with the engineer's arrangements regarding the insulators which I supplied for the Blackpool Tramway. It would have been sheer presumption on my part to have done so. I worked strictly to instructions and left the responsibility with others. Nevertheless, I had my opinions as to iron pins carrying copper rods, and I knew that bolts cemented firmly into earthenware cups would, if materially increased in temperature, bring about serious results. I did not know that there would be a combination of iron, copper, and salt water at work, but perhaps "Manchester" did, as he appears to have had a finger in the pie. However, I would only ask him what any practical telegraph engineers, thoroughly acquainted with the theory and practice of insulator construction, would have thought of all this? Evidently "Manchester" has not learned much after the event, for he is possessed of the common idea that glaze makes a good insulator, and actually infers that a portion of the insulator which is out of the direct path of the current should be glazed. The insulators which I supplied were not glazed at the ends, for manufacturing reasons, like the tops of all post-office insulators, but no doubt it is just about as important as brushing the cob-webs off the tramway before attempting to run a car. "Manchester" complains that the bolts were nearly through the insulators. If so, he must blame the specification and not me, but if about 3/4 inch of solid porcelain is not enough for his engineering tastes(!) I should advise him to try blocks of granite or cast iron, well "glazed," of course. "Manchester" wishes to know if the insulators were tested "after manufacture." Perhaps he is one of those great scientists who would prefer to have them tested before manufacture. At any rate, he may get all the comfort he can out of Mr. Bryan's letter, appearing above his own in your last week's issue, wherein the insulators are stated to test perfectly (even with the glaze ground off) and to be of good quality.

Now you still appear to regard the breakdown as not being due to the insulators, but to expansion and contraction of the copper rods. I still maintain that the insulators are solely at fault, owing to defects in design. Mechanically speaking, the insulators would resist the expansion and contraction of any amount of tubes, for they are only connected to the latter by a small round wooden peg about 3 inches long by 1/4 inch in diameter; in fact, this peg performs precisely the same function as a railway "key," but who ever heard of a "chair" being torn from the sleepers in consequence of expansion of the rail? Allowance is made at the fish plate joints for all this, and Mr. Holroyd Smith has done practically the same thing in making his tube joints in a similar manner. It therefore remains quite clear that the expansions of the iron studs themselves, and not the tubes, has split the insulators. The moment this takes place a terrific current runs through the inside of the insulator to earth, and "Manchester" may understand me better if I use the word of a Blackpool man, and say that "mortification" sets in immediately and clears all before it; but whether the studs split the insulators from atmospheric causes, or through the high electromotive force in the line, it is not for me to say. At any rate, whether the cups have split or not, the iron studs had so far corroded at the point of attachment as to render immediate renewal necessary, so that the breakdown was inevitable.

Mr. Bryan is quite right regarding the design of the insulator, for there is no provision for moisture, while pitch and tar, two indispensable conditions at Blackpool, could run down and cover the surface "glaze" and all, as "Manchester" is no doubt aware.

I am sending you one of the old insulators, and also a sample of the new insulator my firm is now making for the tramway, and from which you will, I feel sure, readily see the force of my remarks.

J. Slater Lewis.
August 24th, 1887.

The Electrician
November 11, 1887.

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT AND TRAMWAY AT BLACKPOOL
The Mayoral banquet given at Blackpool last Friday week was a fitting celebration of a very notable enterprise which reflects the greatest credit on the Corporation and people of that town. It was at Blackpool that one of the earliest attempts at outdoor electric lighting was undertaken, and the lamps erected on the Promenade by Messrs. SIEMENS eight years ago are the same that illuminate it now. Dr. COCKER, the then Mayor, was mainly instrumental in causing the experiment to be tried, and as present Mayor he has commemorated its success in a manner which commends itself best to the civic mind and body. But Blackpool is also noteworthy for one of the most successful applications of electricity to the purposes of locomotion, and at present the solitary example of the “conduit” system in this country. Mr. HOLROYD SMITH'S electric tramcar system is perhaps tho best known of its kind; and besides being a fairly gratifying success to the promoters it has given great satisfaction to the townspeople. The double event, so to speak, was therefore celebrated with considerable éclat; and to import an appropriate tone to the gathering the presence of a number of guests connected with electrical science and industry was duly secured. We are not prepared to say that the electric railroad at Blackpool is “one of the marvels of the universe,” or that the fame of “our system of lighting" has extended to the remote Antipodes. On the otherhand, we are not in a position to deny that some useful practical work of a pioneer kind has been done at Blackpool; and we are well content that the inhabitants of this interesting watering place should indulge a feeling of pride in their electric tramway. For without the encouragement and assistance given to it by the local authorities, the scheme could hardy have prospered as it really has.

Although it has escaped those disastrous inroads of the sea which on at least two occasions have swept away its prototype at Brighton, the Blackpool electric railroad has had many difficulties to surmount, many mistakes to rectify, and many accidents to make good. If self-help were not a fundamental doctrine in scientific as well as in commercial life with all Englishmen we should almost be disposed to ask for a public grant to cover the losses incurred by experiments of this kind. It is impossible to foresee and guard against every obstacle that may arise in giving practical expression to a promising idea; yet, unless these risks are incurred, the idea can never be realised, and the world is that much the poorer in consequence. As a rule, the first attempts at realisation are failures, and those who direct them are not the people who reap the reward. All the more, therefore, is a debt of gratitude due to the pioneers of electric locomotion, which, like steam locomotion in its earlier development, has so many mechanical and financial difficulties to encounter, that no amount of success to be reasonably anticipated for some years to come can relieve us of our obligations. One of the speakers at the banquet, speaking in enthusiastic terms of Mr. HOLROYD SMITH’S achievement as “a feat which would not be forgotten,” added “Blackpool would figure prominently in the history of electricity when it came to be written.” That may be a pleasant outlook for Blackpool; but for the men who risk their money and reputation on novel and untried enterprises the prospect is not so satisfying and the tangible result not so alluring.

Nevertheless, the promoters of electric locomotion have succeeded far beyond what is customary in such ventures; and the one at Blackpool affords promise of a not very distant future which may recompense them for all the disappointments and struggles they have had to brave. From November 1st, 1885, to the end of October in the following year the electric tramcars at that place ran 70,492 miles, carrying 636,252 passengers. With the exception of a six days’ stoppage, through frost and sand, last winter, the railway ran continuously till Whit-week of the present year, when a serious obstacle arose, in consequence of the continuous hot weather, which expanded the copper tubes, so as to drag the iron stud of the insulator, which had corroded and got loose by the action of the salt water. Notwithstanding the delay caused by these unforeseen accidents, the number of passengers carried during the year just ended has been nearly as great as in the preceding year; and at the present moment the line is working as well as can be wished, the machinery and general arrangements being now in a better condition than they ever were. It would be rash for even a native of Blackpool to assert that the whole problem of electric railroads has been solved by this very admirable experiment; but it certainly affords much ground for confidence in the future prospects of that mode of locomotion. It was but natural under the circumstances that a good deal of talk should be indulged in, and visions of electric motors supplanting the steam locomotive and running with double express speed at half the present cost. But for the present we are more disposed to follow the speaker in his reference to the superiority of electricity for the underground railways of the metropolis - a superiority which we have reason to believe may yet be demonstrated at an earler date than most people imagine.

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The Electrician
November 11, 1887.

BANQUET TO ELECTRICIANS AT BLACKPOOL.
We briefly referred in our last issue to the banquet given by the Mayor of Blackpool in connection with the electric traction and arc lighting carried out in that town. The speeches of Mr. Alexander Siemens, Mr. Parker, Mr. Broadbent (of the Tramway Company), and Mr. Chew (the engineer to the Blackpool Corporation), which we print below, will be read with interest:-

Mr. Parker, of Wolverhampton, in responding to the toast, said that electricity as used for locomotion had a very short history, and most of them would be acquainted with it as applied in this respect. Many would remember seeing at the Paris Exhibition of 1881 perhaps the first tramway of any importance that had been publicly exhibited. Many of them would have visited the tramway at Portrush, in the north of Ireland, one of the first and still perhaps the longest in use in this country run by electricity. They at Blackpool followed, and perhaps succeeded in doing a greater work, which it would not have been to their credit if they had not done. He was glad to hear strangers speak well of the enterprise, because the Blackpool tramway was now old - two years in the history of electrical development was a long period of time. When they looked and saw what had been done on the Blackpool tramway, and considered what could be done they thought that this enterprise was but a small dwarf as to what was possible and practicable. He remembered that when they first tested the motors new driving these trams they found they could get 7 horse-power with about 16 hundredweight in the motor. They could today easily obtain 25 horse-power from the same weight, and at the same time attain a higher state of efficiency. They could now at half the cost produce better machines than the dynamos now used for the Blackpool tramway. He did not say this to discourage the Blackpool people, but he felt bound to give exactly the circumstances as far as he conceived them. They had got on to a period of further development and application of electricity, and could today drive electrical tramcars by storage. For a long time the gearing of tramcars stood in their way, but the gearing had been simplified and rendered more practical and controllable in the driving of cars. He had taken a contract to put a motor on the tramway at Wolverhampton which would enable the cars to run by storage up a gradient of 1 in 18, and to run a length of 7 miles and carry 50 passengers. There was at present an agitation with regard to underground railways. Electricity was extremely well suited for driving underground trains. With electricity they could get rid of the nuisance of smoke and noxious vapours in underground carriages. He considered from past experience that no limit seemed possible to the application of electricity as a driving power, and almost whatever was ask of the firm of which he was a representative they were prepared to carry out. He believed that by electricity a train might be run from London to Edinburgh at a speed of 70 miles an hour cheaper than by steam. He was not in the habit of prophesying, but he spoke only from facts, and believed the time had arrived when almost anything desirable could be achieved by electricity in its application to railways [applause].

Mr. BROADBENT said he was much disappointed with the speech of Mr. Parker, the gentleman who supplied their machinery, for he now told them that he could supply it at half the price [laughter]. As to Mr. Parker's confidence in accumulators, he could not yet share that confidence. Accumulators were at present on paper, and paper would not pay dividends. As they were aware, a little over two years ago the Mayor of Manchester (Alderman Harwood) did Blackpool the honour of inaugurating its electric tramway. He drove the first car, and afterwards spoke confidently of the line's future success, and at the banquet which followed, Mr. Holroyd Smith, the patentee of the centre channel, explained the theory of its working. However, the few remarks he (Mr. Broadbent) had to make were on the results. For over two years they had had many difficulties to contend with. They found that the motors for the cars were not quite equal to the strain put upon them; but, by the kind assistance Mr. Parker, the maker of the machines, these had been very much improved. The collectors also gave much trouble, mainly through the shallowness of the channel, but by experience they had been able to overcome this difficulty to a very great extent. Had the centre channel been made deeper many of the troubles would have been avoided, and the expense of cleaning the channel very much reduced. In his opinion, if their system of tramway were laid where there were not the difficulties of sand and seawater to contend with, and constructed with a deeper channel, it would prove a great success. From November 1st, 1885, to October 51st, 1886, they ran 70,492 miles and carried 636,252 passengers. The cars were stopped for five or six days, the stoppage being caused by frost and sand. The working continued very satisfactorily until shortly after Whit-week in the present year. Then the continuous hot weather caused the copper tubes or current conductors to expand so much as to drag the iron stud of the insulator, which had corroded through the contact with salt water, until it had become loosened. This caused a leakage and the insulator to crack. They expected to overcome this difficulty as they had overcome many others, as they had got a new insulator on an improved principle that they thought would be effective. This accident had caused a serious loss to the company which could not be avoided. However, he did not expect such a misfortune to happen again. Notwithstanding this stoppage they ran between November 1st, 1886, and October 28th, 1887, 72,875 miles, and carried 618,500 passengers. At the present time the working was as well as could be wished and the machinery in excellent condition. They were able to carry six times the amount of passengers they could get in the winter months without additional cost to the Company. Many people had said that they should never succeed, but he thought the figures he had quoted would prove that they had run fairly well, and augured well for the future.

Mr. SIEMENS paid a cordial compliment to the enterprise shown by Blackpool people. He thought, with Dr. Kingsbury, that electric lighting should be extended to the houses. This was the second time he had visited their town, his first visit being on the occasion of the introduction of the electric light, eight years ago. He was glad to see that the lamps which were then arranged, and which had been since that time under the good care of Mr. Chew, did not compare badly with some of the more modern lamps [applause]. It would be difficult to appreciate the public spirit shown at that time by Blackpool, because we progressed now so quickly that one was apt to forget the position of affairs in 1879. The electric light had just been talked about, but nobody appeared to know anything about it. Their present mayor came up to London to see him and said they wanted their Promenade, the distance of which he believed was 2,700 yards, lighted by electricity. Such lighting had not been done at that time, and his firm would never have had the opportunity of carrying out such lighting had it not been for the public spirit and enterprise shown by Blackpool. That the system which they adopted succeeded was due to Sir William Siemens, whose loss they all deplored [hear, hear]. Its success also was very creditable to Mr. Chew, who had managed the undertaking exceedingly well from a financial and also from an electrician's point of view. Blackpool, he thought, ought to feel proud with such an enterprising Corporation and such a skillful engineer [applause].

Mr. CHEW said that power to carry out the Blackpool line was obtained from Parliament in 1879, a clause being inserted in the Improvements Bill by which they were enabled to supply electricity for public purposes. These clauses were put into most of the Acts obtained about then by the Parliamentary agents. So far as the Blackpool Corporation was concerned, an additional clause was put in that gave power to borrow £5,000 to be used for electrical purposes. This was only obtained on condition that the whole was to be repaid in ten years. This clause was a very heavy burden upon the past an present ratepayer. Nevertheless, three-fourths of the sum had been paid, and the balance would be paid off in 1890, after which the apparatus at present in use would be the clear property of the ratepayers without further charge, except for wear an tear. The present mayor, who was also mayor at that time, had determined, in conjunction with the Council, to make a forward step, and, it possible, to add to the attractions of the three miles of Promenade by lighting that part situated between the two piers, and also at the pierheads, with the most powerful of the then-known arc lamps. He need not say with what result, as that was known to them all. They now possessed the best display at night on the Promenade in the visiting season that could be found in England. The area between the piers had 54,000 candle-power of arc lights, the other portions of the Promenade having double-burner gas lamps - one at every twenty-five yards - covering the whole distance. These arc lights were a great convenience to the numerous pleasure steamboats that sailed between there and the Isle of Man, Llandudno, Wales and the Lake District. The lights could be seen out at sea from the packets for fully fourteen miles. In the earlier period they had considerable difficulty in dealing with the electric forces. Leakage, as every electrician knew, was the bugbear constantly to be contended with; expansion and contraction of the wires, faulty packing and insulation, delicacy of the machines and instruments, rendered constant and skilled supervision necessary. But experience had been gained, and that counted for something in the general result. They had seen that night some of, if not the very best arc lamps at present in use. It might be interesting to show what had been the cost, both on capital and maintenance account, and for that reason he had taken out the items of the maintenance account for the last five years and classed them under different heads. To begin with, the capital expended was £3,600 - for machines, wires, engines, boilers, lamps, posts, sheds, and cost of erection. The interest of this, at 5 per cent., is £180 per annum, and for the five years would be £900. They used the lamps only 1,000 hours each year, or, for the five years, a total of 5 000 hours. That worked out to be 3s. 9d. per hour for capital charges at the above rate of interest, but, of course, they paid considerably more in consequence of having to repay the principal in ten years; yet they had been maintaining the plant for the last eight years in first-class order, nearly all the wires and posts having been renewed and the wire put underground. The boiler tubes had been renewed, the whole plant being in some respects improved, in other respects remaining as good as at first. For the wear and tear for the five years - representing 5,000 hours of work - the account was as follows :-

Fuel, water, gas, oil, &c. ....................£ 473 19 4
Carbons ............................................ 389 4 2
Wages and salaries ............................. 846 10 11
Repairs and renewals (including wire)..... 863 19 3
Rent of ground .................................... 45 0 0
Rates and taxes .................................. 69 5 5
Boiler insurances ................................. 15 15 0
Carriage and sundries .......................... 42 10 9
Experiments ........................................ 21 14 8

...... Total ......................................£ 2,767 19 6

That worked out to 11s. 1d. per hour, which added to the 3s. 9d. made a total of 14s. per hour for a light nominally of 54,000 candle-power, and he knew from practical tests that these lights did give an average of from 4,000 to 6,000 candle-power each for the nine lamps in use [applause].

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
December 2, 1887

CITY NOTES, REPORTS, MEETINGS, &c.
The Blackpool Electric Tramway Company, Limited.
The annual meeting of the shareholders of this company was held on Saturday, under the presidency of Mr. R. Horstall, Mayor of Halifax.

The Chairman pointed out that the company had suffered an unfortunate mishap during the year in the failure of the insulation of the line. This had put them to considerable expense in horse hire and in repairs, and then, again, they had had to contend against great competition from the omnibus proprietors. He complained that they were most unfairly dealt with by the Corporation of Blackpool, who allowed the omnibuses to run on Sundays, but prevented the tramcars from carrying passengers on that day. The old insulators were being replaced by new and more effective appliances, and after their experiences of the past year he had increased confidence in the concern, and he anticipated that at their next meeting he would have a much more favourable report to put before them.

No dividend was declared; a sum of £471 being carried forward to the reserve fund; and Messrs. Kingsbury, Ormerod, Shaw, and Smith were re-elected directors.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
December 23, 1887

OFFICIAL RETURNS OF ELECTRICAL COMPANIES.
Blackpool Electric Tramway Company. Limited. -The annual return of this company made up to the 10th inst. was filed on the 16th inst. The nominal capital is £30,000 in £10 shares, the whole of which have been taken up. Upon 2,850 shares the sum of £6 10s. per share has been called up, and upon 150 shares the full amount has been called. The calls paid amount to £20,021 leaving £4 unpaid.

The Electrician
December 9, 1887.

AMERICAN NOTES.
(From our own correspondent.)
NEW YORK, Nov. 24, 1887.
With the approach of winter the number of English visitors is notably reduced. One of the latest to remain is Mr. M. Holroyd Smith, whose work at Blackpool is so well known and was so recently celebrated with unusual honours. Next week Mr. Smith is to give the New York Electrical Society a “Talk on Tramways," and the occasion will no doubt be one of much interest and profit to the members.

The Electrical World
December 10, 1887

A Talk on Tramways.
At the meeting of the New York Electrical Society, held on Nov. 30, Mr. Holroyd Smith, of London, gave a "Talk on Tramways," in which he treated the subject of street railroads, first in a general way, and then with special reference to the electrical method. In beginning his address, Mr. Smith said that too much attention cannot be given to the fact that in electrical railroading the electrician occupies the second place to the engineer, and that the past failures in electric railroading have been due to the fact that electricians, pure and simple, have gone into the domain of engineering without sufficient knowledge to guide them. In other words, the electrician must not expect to succeed in working tramways unless he studies the engineering problems as well. Mr. Smith, in taking up the subject generally, drew attention to the fact that American railroads, or tramroads, were the necessary outcome of the generally bad ordinary roads, whereas in England the roads are uniformly good. While in America the centre bearing rail is employed almost universally, in England, and abroad generally, such a rail would not be permitted, and recourse must be had to the grooved rail. Hence, while with American cars and rails the coefficient of traction amounts to about only 8 pounds to the ton, the English rail requires 23 pounds to the ton, so that these things must not be lost sight of in designing cars. It will thus be seen that conditions vary considerably in different countries, even when seemingly they are quite alike. Mr. Smith asserts that the increased power claimed for the driving motors is due to the overestimation of the power required to move the car.

Mr. Smith then entered into the consideration of traction by horses, compressed air, steam and cable, and deplored the fact that while in England the statistics of running expenses of horsecar lines were well-known and published in Duncan's Tramway Manual, we had no such source of information, and it was with the greatest difficulty that any reliable figures could be obtained with regard to the subject on American lines. Mr. Smith stated that as a rule in England a 2-horse car running for 14 hours a day required 10 horses. These horses cost £10, and had an average life of 3 years. In discussing the question from the electrical standpoint, Mr. Smith drew attention to three essential points that have to be considered: 1. Safety to the public. 2. Efficiency. 3. Economy.

Taking up the storage battery first, Mr. Smith held the position that even if the battery could be successfully worked, it would cost one-third more to equip and run a line on this system than to put down a conduit, and especially would this be the case where traffic is very heavy. Mr. Smith was of the opinion that of the various systems the overhead system was the best, taking all into consideration; but the great danger in its use lay in the tendency to do slipshod work. The difficulties met with at crossings and switches in railway work where conductors of opposite polarity met in a horizontal plane are overcome by placing the conductors in a vertical plane so that even if contact does occur it can only happen between two positive or two negative conductors. Mr. Smith finally described a new method of his own which was designed to overcome all the objections to both the overhead and underground circuits, and which, without the use of the storage battery, is arranged to supply the motor on the car with electricity. This system, which was only hinted at by the speaker, will no doubt attract some attention in the future.

In the discussion which followed, Mr. T. W. Rae spoke of the experiments made on cars in this city by Mr. C. E. Emery, the well-known engineer, who found that the coefficient of traction was 12 1/2 lbs. per ton; and General Q. A. Gilmore states that the general average for the whole countrv is 16 1/2 lb. per ton.

Mr. R. G. Blackwell, whose opinions on this subject are well known, deprecated the use of the storage battery entirely, and, in replying to a question, remarked that the delay in the construction of the Fulton street road in this city, undertaken by the Bentley-Knight Company, was due to legal complications; and that all the material required for the road was in store in this vicinity, ready to be applied at the earliest notice.

Mr. C. O. Mailloux in replying to Mr. Blackwell, detailed the experiments which are now going on upon the Madison avenue line in this city, on a car equipped with 120 cells of Julien storage battery, and which ran from 85th street to Harlem Bridge and back, on a run of 40 miles, with a drop of but 2 volts. Mr. Mailloux stated that the Brussels Tramway Company are now operating 10 cars of this system and that before many months have elapsed New York will see as many storage cars in operation. Mr. Mailloux drew special attention to the fact that storage batteries were well adapted to long lines on account of the large conductors required with the overhead and underground systems, where the drop of potential has to be made as small as possible.

Mr. Holroyd Smith confirmed this statement of Mr. Mailloux, but he still claimed that the use of the storage battery was only a transient one. In reply to a question by Mr. Davidson as to whether a conduit had ever been operated in this country, Mr. R. G. Blackwell referred to the experimental line operated in Cleveland on the Bentley-Knight system, and carried on through snow, ice and water without trouble. Mr. Smith also confirmed this fact, and stated that the last winter had been most severe in Blackpool, England, where his road was in operation, but notwithstanding this, the current had practically not stopped in three years since the road went into operation.

After the close of this discussion Mr. G. F. Harris brought before the Society a slip of the cable record made by one of the first Thomson siphon recorders, on the cable between Vigo and Penzance, and also made a few explanatory remarks relative to cable work.

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Engineering
February 17, 1888

THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.
Electricity As Applied To Engineering.
In our last issue (see page 145 ante) we dealt with the early part of the meeting of this Institution held on the 2nd and 3rd inst., and we now conclude our report. At the meeting on the 2nd inst. the discussion on Mr. Richards' paper being concluded, the secretary next read a paper contributed by Mr. William Geipel, of Edinburgh, entitled "On the Position and Prospects of Electricity as Applied to Engineering." This we shall print in full, and we may at once, therefore, proceed to the discussion.

Mr. Fairfield, of Nottingham, was the first speaker. He said that the author had covered a great deal of ground, but there was one most important point he had carefully left out, and that was the question of repairs. The speaker had seen a good deal of the trouble caused by dynamo machines getting out of order, and the trouble and expense entailed through this cause. He did not think that ordinary engine attendants were capable of looking after dynamo machines. He estimated from what he had seen that with small installations the cost of electric lighting cannot be brought down to equal that of gas when the price of the latter was below 7s. per thousand. He was of opinion that the use of a higher tension should be aimed at. The prejudice that existed in the public mind on the score of want of safety must be overcome, just as in the case of steam boilers, pressures had risen from 30 lb. or 60 lb. to 160 lb. per square inch, without any increase in the percentage of fatal accidents. The cost of gas in districts within eight miles of Nottingham was 2s. 4d. per thousand, but he found that installations of thirty to forty lights cost an equivalent of gas at 7s. per thousand; but in a large electric light installation of 500 lights, the price had been reduced to an equivalent of gas at 2s. 1d. per thousand cubic feet. This was in a lace factory. He looked forward to the time when 600 volts would be looked on as low tension, just as 60 lb. was looked on as low pressure in a marine boiler.

At this point the meeting was adjourned until the next evening (Friday the 3rd inst.), when the discussion was renewed by the secretary reading a number of letters from various members who were unable to be present.

The first of these was from Mr. H. Barcroft, of the Bessbrook Spinning Company, Ireland. He referred to a statement made by the author, who had stated in an early part of the paper that the Victoria motor possesses a practically perfect power of self-control, not only over its rate of speed with varying load, but over the energy absorbed by it, for it helps itself, as it were, to only such an amount of energy as will enable it to deal with the work imposed on it. Mr. Barcroft wished to ask the author whether the arrangement would prevent the motor running away in case of short-circuiting. He would also be glad if any one could give him information on the plan adopted in America for the electrical connection of tramway rails.

Mr. A. F. Snell, of the Moritz Immisch Electrical Works, wrote in reference to that part of the author's paper which referred to the plant of Mr. C. E. H. Brown, of Oerlikon. This gentleman had, according to the author, succeeded in transmitting by electricity 50 horse-power from water power over a distance of five miles with a commercial return of over 70 per cent. Mr. Snell stated that the total horse-power in the water was only 40, and that transmitted about 20. The true commercial efficiency, i.e., ratio of useful work, therefore equalled 50 per cent. of the total power used, and not 70 per cent, as stated.

Mr. A. S. Bolton, the chairman of the Cowles Syndicate Company, wrote, saying that the works for carrying out the Cowles process of electric smelting at Milton, were about completed. The leads were being attached to the furnaces, so that in about ten days, it was hoped, a start would be made.

Mr. Sydney F. Walker, of Cardiff, had also written. He agreed with the author that electric transmission will eventually take the place of shafting and belts. He saw no reason why 10 per cent., or even 5 per cent. loss, should be allowed in conductors. He thought that in time 1 per cent. would be found to be an ample allowance under this head. With regard to a self-regulating motor run at a constant speed, the writer was of opinion that a shunt-wound motor can only be practically self-regulating at constant speed, just as a shunt-wound dynamo can only be practically self-regulating at constant electromotive force on condition that its armature resistance is very small in proportion to the largest current passing through it. This means that the machine must be constructed very much larger and heavier than otherwise necessary. Mr. Walker is of opinion that undoubtedly the self-regulating motor at constant speed will be a compound wound motor. The work a given motor will do depends upon its speed, and the current passing through it. With the speed constant the current is the only possible variable, and it can only be varied by altering the number of lines of force passing into the armature; and this again can only be accomplished, so far as our present knowledge extends, by causing the working current to effect that alteration, that is by compound winding. Speaking of the illumination of mines Mr. Walker considered that the insulation of dynamo and motor, and the loss evolved in reducing speed, was the difficulty. In conclusion, he stated that electricity was now firmly established as the method for surface and pit bottom illumination, and will soon be taken to the face of the coal. His experience of the cost of electric lighting of a colliery was that it was one-fourth to one-twelfth that of gas.

The last letter read was from Mr. T. Urquhart, of Borisoglebsk, South Russia, who described an electric welding system he saw at the works of Dr. Bernados, at St. Petersburg. (A complete account of Dr. Bernados' system of electric welding appeared in our issue of January 27 last (see page 85 ante). The operator looks through a stained glass to protect his eyes. The carbon pencil is traversed along the seam or joint to be welded. The carbon pencil is 3/4 in. in diameter and such as used in electric lamps. A welding, such as shown in a drawing shown on the wall, consists of uniting two small pieces of bar iron, 3 in. long, welded longitudinally. They were laid side by side on an anvil and the carbon traversed along the joint. The surface metal of both was immediately fused together. The pieces were then turned over and the operation repeated on the other side. The weld, however, was but skin deep, and daylight could be seen through the parts in the centre. So that there was not really a weld throughout the thickness of iron, but the edges were fused together. (See Figs. 1 and 2.)

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It was also noticed, by using a magnifying glass, that the fused part seemed burnt, and this, the writer thinks, from his own observations, is general. At present the system is best for sheet welding. A drawing was shown of a piece of sheet 1/16 in. which had been submerged in water and pierced, the carbon being also submerged. As soon as contact is made between the pencil and iron a hole is melted through. By moving the carbon across the sheet a piece is cut off altogether. Energetic ebullition is set up during the operation, and no eye protectors are necessary when fusing or welding under water. It is proposed to cut up under water an iron bridge in Poland. The abutments were washed out last spring, and had fallen into the navigable channel, so that no means had yet been devised of clearing the channel. It was, therefore, intended to try the method above described. In the works in question the electric current is generated by a Siemens dynamo. The whole current of 120 amperes at 175 volts is taken from the dynamo to accumulators, as of itself it has not amperes enough, while at the same time it is of too high a potential. The total number of accumulators at present in Dr. Bernados' works is 490. They are arranged in seven parallel rows, or groups, having seventy elements in each group; and each group of seventy elements is further subdivided into fourteen sets, each containing five elements, and each of these sets is connected with the general distributing board. The number of elements to be used can be regulated according to the size of work. The same power is used for lighting the works, and the writer noticed a lathe also worked by this power. The temperature of the voltaic circuit is said to be as high as 4850 deg. Cent., or 8760 deg. Fahr. Pieces welded by this process and subjected to torsion showed deterioration. The tensile strength was reported to be equal or even greater. Analysis shows considerable changes in structure and chemical composition.

On the conclusion of the reading of these letters, Mr. Shoolbred was the first speaker. He remarked on the particulars contained in the tables, and said he would be glad to know where the author drew his experience as to lamps of 200 volts. They were not common, and so far as the speaker knew not in the market. As to motive power, he agreed with the author that although lighting had occupied more attention in times past, that the distribution of motive power would take a larger share of the total current generated in the future. One reason for this would be that there were numberless small industries that would be using power all day, whilst the demand for lighting was limited to the hours of darkness, and in the summer these were not long. Electric lighting, he conceived, had received an exaggerated amount of attention. The speaker of the previous evening (Mr. Fairfield) had appeared to be under some misapprehension as to the subject of cost. In considering this question it must be remembered that installations of electric lighting were generally on a small scale; he might say always on a small scale as compared with gas. The latter was made and supplied by large public companies, generally hundreds or thousands of times the magnitude of the electric lighting plants. Gas engineers have admitted that size for size of installation electricity would cost less than gas. In both cases coal was the first source of light, and the speaker contended it could be more economically used when burnt in a boiler furnace for generating steam to drive an electric lighting plant than when treated in a retort to generate gas. As to the question of the future of electric lighting, Mr. Shoolbred was of opinion that the progress would be more and more towards central station lighting. The cost has already been immensely reduced, and the development of central stations would carry it further and further; the larger the stations the less the cost. He wished to point out, in reference to the question of transformers, that the use of alternate currents limits the use of electricity to lighting, but in many cases this would be a great disadvantage, and public bodies ought to see that so great a check was not put on the usefulness of electricity by narrowing the field of its application. There was now no need for this. Years ago it was thought that a number of arc lights could only be maintained by alternating current machines. No one thought that now, although difficulties arose through the use of transformers, but these could be got over. The speaker made reference to instances of electric lighting that had been installed in sugar works at the East-end of London. In one case all gas had been extinguished, although the Beckton Works were close alongside. This was a factory of some magnitude, over a thousand hands being employed. The success had been such that the firm had followed a similar course at their equally large factory in Liverpool, where the gas was 2s. 10d. per thousand. He mentioned these cases, as they were evidences of the view business men took of the question when they had to consider it from a purely commercial standpoint. The profits on sugar making were not so great as to allow those engaged in it to indulge in the luxury of making doubtful scientific experiments in their business, and it might be taken for granted that the firm in question saw a substantial money gain in adopting electricity in place of gas as a means of illumination. In reply to some questions from the President, Mr. Shoolbred said he would get details of cost of the installations referred to, with a view to incorporating them in the Transactions. He was in favour of direct driving up to 200 horsepower.

Mr. Volk, of Brighton, spoke next. He said that often he was sure mechanical engineers looked on electricity with disfavour as a formidable rival. This was entirely wrong, as it was a most desirable means of transmitting power. With regard to passenger conveyance, motors of one horse-power would take ten or twelve persons. All the cars would not take a grade at once, and the electrical balance would be maintained by the cars on a track in the same manner as beads on a string. With electrical traction, amongst other things, cheapness at first cost was secured by the lightness of the permanent way. He did not wish it to be understood he advocated excessive lightness in rails, as there should be, by all means, a good road; but bridges, culverts, and cuttings could be made less expensively, the latter because grades can be used that no locomotive would face. The question of durability of electrical motors had been referred to. On his cars running at Brighton the motors were held in place under the cars by light stirrup irons, and no protection was given to them, so that they were open to the salt air from the sea. They had been running for three years now without new brushes. When inclosed in a shop they could certainly do better, and wear and tear could be covered by a 10 per cent. allowance. The figures given by the author in the paper with regard to the working of Mr. Volk's railway were the result of two years' working. He had, however, gone through his books since, and the result which had been reached, after everything had been allowed for, was that he was able to put 10 per cent. to the reserve fund, and pay interest at the rate of 13 1/2 per cent. The debit items included 509l. for damage done by the sea. He had run 94,000 car-miles in the four years, and the greatest number of cars running at a time was three. Two cars are run in the summer, but no account is taken of the extra mileage. The following are the figures upon which Mr. Volk based his statement:

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He would be glad for some one now to make an experiment with working by accumulators. The length of his line was under one mile. The cars climb a gradient of 1 in 25. For conveying the power to the axles he had started with 4-in. leather belting, but this gave out. He then tried double leather belting, but that only lasted two days. He had at first a prejudice against linked belting, but at the end of 1884 he had adopted this description, and he thought the belt then fitted would just carry him through next summer. With regard to joining the rails, about which a question had been asked, he drilled the ends and the fish-plates with twist drills. The rivets in the rail and in each fish-plate are all distinct, and were put in from each side, and just allowed to butt, being merely pressed together (see Fig. 3).

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The friction caused by the movement from the passing load kept the ends where they butted quite bright, in spite of the saltness of the atmosphere. The points were uncovered once in twelve months for examination and cleaning of the faces. Except for temporary lines, Mr. Volk would advise strap connections rivetted and electrically welded, as in the railway on Ryde Pier. He had run three cars in parallel. There was no difficulty, as each takes its own share of current quite naturally.

Mr. Holroyd Smith wished to bear testimony to the great excellence of the author's paper, and the very sound conclusions he had arrived at; in proof of which he might mention that there were only two points of which he did not quite approve. The first of these was the statement that in electrical science America was much behind this country. The speaker agreed, however, that we, in England, are behind in practice; and this was not on account of restrictive legislation, which so many people thought, but because of the naturally conservative disposition of English people. He thought the high science of England was against practical development; but another point was that the American public is easily satisfied, but the English people have insular prejudices. As an example of this he would mention the New York Broadway Tramway. As to transformers he had been shown in an office in New York an instrument capable of transforming electric currents from high to low potential. He did not know how the operation was effected, as the instrument was in a box, and he did not see the inside. In the matter of electric welding he thought Dr. Bernados' system was open to serious objections, in fact, owing to the intense heat produced, it was not welding at all, but a fusing together of the parts. He preferred Mr. Elihu Thomson's system. In that a large quantity of current was used, the parts being pressed together as they got hotter. A good deal of confusion was caused through the want of a standard interpretation to the term car-mile. Mr. Holroyd Smith himself had experienced a good deal of inconvenience in this respect. He thought, therefore, that some definite conclusion should be arrived at, so that he might know what fare to charge. Dr. Hopkinson did not include many items which he, Mr. Holroyd Smith, included, and hence there was a good deal of confusion. As for dynamos used as motors at constant speed under varying load, the one driving cars at Bessbrook he thought was the best. The fluctuations in hauling were great, and credit was due to Dr. Hopkinson, who had designed the machine. But in hauling there was not only varying load but varying speed; for whereas 20 lb. to the ton might be sufficient for hauling at speed, 60 lb. to 70 lb. would be required at starting. However, for this there were various formulae extant. Mr. Holroyd Smith had accomplished a gradient of 1 in 16 successfully. The author had made an error in stating that the cars at Blackpool were run by worm gearing. This was not so, chain gearing being used. This he illustrated on the blackboard, together with a spring attachment by which he lessened the jerk on the chain in starting. In this the arms of the driven wheel were keyed on to the axle, their attachment to the rim being made through the medium of spiral springs. By this device the life of the chain was greatly prolonged. Referring to the electrical furnace for the production of aluminium he thought its value was very much discounted by the process for the cheaper production of sodium, which was now being worked out. Turning to secondary batteries, Mr. Preece had stated that before long he expected to see secondary batteries used for tramcars. Mr. Holroyd Smith considered that this would lead to doubling the weight to be carried, and, therefore, an increase in cost. Secondary batteries might be advisable for one car, but for running a large number over a long distance - he instanced 200 cars over twenty miles - the speaker thought that the system would not be advisable, for it would double the cost. Another objection was the jolting of the batteries. If, however, the British public will not have a third rail or an overhead conductor, then perhaps secondary batteries must be used. Referring to Mr. Volk's remarks, the speaker said he could run ten cars in parallel, and with regard to a point raised by the President, as to danger of cars running into each other from behind, motors could be wound in such a way as not to exceed a certain speed.

Dr. Hopkinson was the next speaker. In reference to overhead conductors, he said that at first the flexible connection had a little motor on the conductor, and there was a device for causing it to run at the same speed as the car. The wire was like an ordinary telegraph wire. With the arrangement he had introduced it was possible to make the place of contact at any point laterally on the car, an arrangement which facilitated the use of crossings and points. This was not perfected in time to use at Bessbrook, otherwise it would have been introduced there. They had, however, fitted it to a short distance of about 40 to 60 yards, and it had been running for two years without wear and tear. The speaker pointed out that other dynamo machines had the power of self-regulation besides the shunt-wound Victoria dynamo; and in fact it was possible to obtain perfect self-regulation without any compound winding at all.

Sir James Douglass, who rose in answer to an invitation from the President, said that he would confine the few remarks he should make to the subject of which he had most practical experience, viz., lighthouse illumination. We had not, perhaps, gone on so fast in this country as the most sanguine advocates of electric lighting had hoped and expected, but still he thought we had made fair progress. He remembered hearing Faraday say, in 1856, when he first saw the dynamo of Holmes, at the Trinity Wharf at Blackwall, "Yes, this is my child; but you have made a man of it." Sir James thought that could Faraday come back again now and see machinery of the size of the "Colossus" dynamo represented by the drawing on the wall, he would say that the child had developed from a man to a giant. The speaker then referred to the great advantage that electricity had been in affording a guide to the mariner, but it was required only for important landfalls where oil or gas did not go far enough; and, indeed, sometimes sailors say that they had too much light given them.

Mr. Crompton, of Chelmsford, contested the accuracy of the author's statement that in electrical practice we on this side of the Atlantic were behind Americans. It seemed to him that the improvements in practice emanated from England, and even the machines made by Siemens in England were ahead of those made by the same firm in Germany. Certainly the English machines were ahead of those produced in the United States. The Brush "Colossus," machine illustrated by the drawing on the wall, was said to be the largest in the world. This was not so, neither was it a fact that it was a 500 horse-power machine. It was designed to be 400 horse-power, but as a matter of fact when tried it was found to be 200 horse-power. Any mechanical engineer looking at the drawing would see where the fault lay. The size of the spindle was quite inadequate to the work and the bearings were too short. He had made the largest dynamo in the world. It was designed for 500 horse-power and did it. He had put bearings 2 ft. 6 in. long, whilst the Brush machine only had 12 in. bearings. Mr. Crompton added that he did not understand chemistry, but he would venture to say that the sodium process would not be the one by which aluminium would be produced. It took too much fuel, and the electric process would be the successful one.

Mr. Cochrane referred to the Parsons steam turbine, an example of which had been erected at his works. The steam went in at one end at 50 lb. pressure and came out, he was told, at the other end at 2 lb. or 3 lb. pressure, and the machine ran at 10,000 revolutions a minute.

The engineer of the North Metropolitan Tramways was the next speaker. He had had considerable experience in working cars by means of electrical accumulators at Stratford, where 30,000 car-miles had been run. He could not say anything about the cost. One advantage in using accumulators was very apparent; viz., that they could run on any existing lines. With regard to management of the accumulators that was simply a mechanical question, and the experience gained in the course of six months' working had enabled them to make several improvements, although they did not claim any special electrical knowledge. One point they speedily saw a chance of altering to advantage was the method of packing. Originally the surfaces were screwed together, touching at certain points. The consequence was that they buckled, and he therefore left them free where the swelling did comparatively little harm. Accumulators should always be easily accessible, a simple matter but one often lost sight of, and they should be frequently examined.

Mr. Kapp wished to defend the author from the attack made against him by Mr. Snell in his letter as to the question of transmission of power. He thought the latter was labouring under a misconception of the facts. The speaker agreed with Mr. Crompton that England was ahead of other nations in electrical practice. He wished to say a word or two on the mysterious apparatus Mr. Holroyd Smith had seen in a box. He had seen the same thing, the only difference being that it was not in a box. In fact, he had tested it at the Newcastle Exhibition, and found a loss of about 90 per cent. Much the same thing had been done years ago by Gramme in Paris.

Mr. Holroyd Smith afterwards rose to explain that he did not think the apparatus he had seen was the same as the apparatus Mr. Kapp referred to.

Mr. Kapp (continuing) said that Dr. Hopkinson had referred to an ingenious method which he had introduced of avoiding the trouble of switches with overhead wires. The difficulty was to make the little traveller follow the car, and this was what Dr. Hopkinson had overcome by his ingenious device. The speaker, however, had seen within a few days previously an arrangement by which the same end was reached when an underground conductor was used; in fact, it might be described as a combination of Dr. Hopkinson and Mr. Holroyd Smith's systems, possessing many of the advantages of both. It was the invention of Mr. Linneth, and was to be applied to the West Metropolitan Tramway's lines at Chiswick. Mr. Kapp then proceeded to explain the arrangement by means of sketches on the blackboard. These we have endeavoured to reproduce approximately for the benefit of our readers. Fig. 4 shows the ordinary arrangement used by Mr. Holroyd Smith.

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A bare conductor runs in an underground trench having a narrow opening at the top, through which the attachment from the car descends to make contact. There is, in place of the bare conductor, an insulated gas-pipe of 3/4 in. in diameter.

Inside this the conductor runs. At every three yards there is a T piece, into which is screwed a saddle, which is not insulated, the stem of the saddle being in contact with the conductor in the pipe (Figs. 6 and 7). Depending from the bottom of the car by its two ends is a wire, the bight of which hangs in the slot of the trench. The wire is of such a length that it always rests on two of the saddles at once. At a crossing or switch, the car would pass from one line of underground conductor to another without trouble, there being no contact between the two lines of conductor where they cross.

Mr. Henry Davey did not think that electricity would come into extended use for working pumps in mines. Even for small motors for dip pumps he thought it would not be well. The usual way of working these small pumps for freeing dips, or depressions in the mine, of water, was by small hydraulic motors. Frequently the pumps got drowned and thence would arise the difficulty. Again, there was the trouble of the different speeds required for an electric motor and a pump; and gearing down would lead to complication. He was of opinion, however, that electricity was well suited for conveying power to a distance.

Mr. Mordey said that a previous speaker had referred to leakage through wires at the Colonial Exhibition, but the speaker was of opinion that the loss was not to be accounted for in that way. The Brush Corporation, which he represented, had had a large number of lamps running at the Exhibition, and they were under a considerable penalty for every minute that any one of these lamps failed altogether or ran badly. The record showed that out of 6,840,000 lamp-minutes they were only fined for 428 minutes' failure or partial failure. Their record at Manchester was also very good. He mentioned these facts as they showed that there was not so great difficulty in successfully running an electric light installation as the first speaker in the discussion seemed to imagine. Dr. Hopkinson had referred to the curve given on one of the author's diagrams which showed the regulating of shunt-wound motors. The speaker had originally contributed that diagram to the Philosophical Transactions to illustrate what had not been previously shown in some communications on the subject. He thought both Mr. Crompton and Mr. Holroyd Smith were both right in what they said about English and American practice, although they appeared to differ in their conclusions. All chief improvements in the dynamo were made here, and they were at once taken up by the Americans. The division of labour appeared to be that we made the improvements and the Americans made the money. Mechanical engineers were greatly to blame for this, as they did not seem to appreciate what a valuable tool electricity might be to them. As to what Mr. Crompton said about the Brush Colossus machine, the speaker was not aware that it only did half the work expected from it. He was under the impression that it was up to rather more than the contract efficiency. However this might be, the Cowles people were sufficiently satisfied to give an order for a duplicate machine. In conclusion he wished to point out that electricity was now well beyond the experimental stage; a fact to which the diagrams on the wall would bear witness; but there was the practical testimony of machines that had been running day and night for two years.

Mr. Carbutt, in summing up the discussion, said that it would be desirable for closer and more positive data to be given as to the cost of electric light. Were the figures quoted by the author the result of actual experience, or were they founded on conjectural or estimated data? For instance, were the items of repairs and depreciation of the plant throughout the installation, including engines and boilers, fully allowed for? In fact, what was wanted to be known, was at what price a company could supply the light so as to make their venture financially successful.

Mr. Giepel then replied to the discussion. Taking the remarks of Mr. Fairfield, of Nottingham, first, he said that gentleman must have had a singularly unfortunate experience. He had stated that he could not get good engine attendants who could keep the dynamos in order. For his own part he was seldom so fortunate as to get practised engine attendants to look after the machines that he had had to do with, but only oilers and sugar boilers. Yet at the sugar factories in question they had had no trouble. It was true, if anything serious were to go wrong they would have to call in an expert; but as a matter of fact nothing serious had gone wrong. The same speaker had drawn a comparison between steam at high tension and current of high potential, but between the two there was this serious difficulty. Steam in pipes at the lower pressure named would burn, and at the higher pressure it would not do much more, whilst the lower tension current was practically safe, whilst at the higher tension referred to by Mr. Fairfield it was capable of inflicting fatal injury. At the same time, if they were to work with a current at 2000 volts, that would be bad enough for the human frame to stand, so why not increase it to 10,000 volts, as in case of mishap it could do no more than kill a man? The effect of increasing the magnitude of an installation in lowering the cost had been referred to, but the author thought it was less a case of size, within reason, than of constant duration of running. Mr. Walker thought that 10 or even 5 per cent. was too much to allow for loss in transmission of power, but that depends on the cost of details. In one part of the paper he had shown how much potential it would be well to use under different circumstances, such as varying price of coal, &c. Mr. Shoolbred had asked if 200 volt lamps were to be obtained. He had not come across them, but Mr. Swann had said they were to be made. A good many speakers had referred to what he had advanced respecting the state of the scientific and practical aspects of electricity in this country and America. What he intended to convoy was that the Americans were quick to take advantage of and practically apply the discoveries made by men of science over here. The American workers in this field were not so much scientists as practical men who put the results of scientific research to a practical application. He noted what the President said as to working expenses, and the commercial aspect of electric lighting. He would endeavour to follow out the suggestions made, and hoped to give closer details later on in order that they might be incorporated in the Transactions of the Institution.

This terminated the business of the meeting, and the members separated after passing a vote of thanks to the Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers for the use of their theatre.

Engineering
February 24, 1888

"ELECTRICITY APPLIED TO ENGINEERING."
To The Editor Of Engineering.

Sir, - In your report of a paper on "Electricity as Applied to Engineering," page 173 of your issue of February 17, we observe that Mr. Volk, of Brighton, remarks that, with electrically worked tram-cars, "grades can be used that no locomotive would face."

Perhaps Mr. Volk is not aware that the Wilkinson patent tramway locomotives are now, and have been for years, working a gradient of 1 in 11 1/2, drawing cars containing very often from forty to fifty passengers.

From past experience we fear that any electric motor, as so far developed, would cut a sorry figure if put to the same work. Your kind insertion of this will greatly oblige Yours truly,

Wm. Wilkinson
Holme House Foundry, Wigan, Feb. 21, 1888.

Engineering
February 24, 1888

ELECTRICITY APPLIED TO ENGINEERING. On the Position and Prospects of Electricity at applied to Engineering.
By Mr. William Geipel, of Edinburgh.
(Paper read before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.)

In the present paper the author proposes confining his remarks to those branches of electric engineering which involve the employment of considerable power and are in some way connected with the use of dynamo machines. The principal of these may be treated under the four following heads:
I. Electric transmission and distribution of power.
II. Electric locomotion.
III. Electric lighting.
IV. Electric metallurgy.


II. Electric Locomotion.

The practical methods of accomplishing electric locomotion seem to the author to be the four following:

Firstly, the use of a third insulated rail or conductor to convey the current from the generator to the motor carried on the locomotive, contact being made by a wheel or a sliding spring or brush; while the two ordinary rails serve as a return circuit, the current being conducted from the motor to the rails through the frame, axle, and wheels of the locomotive.

Secondly, the employment of an overhead conductor supported on poles or from the roof of an arch or tunnel, contact being made either by a carrier on wheels running along the conductor, or by rubbing. The return circuit may be either through a second overhead conductor, or through the ordinary rails as in the third-rail plan.

Thirdly, the use of an underground insulated conductor, placed in a conduit between the rails, and conducting the current from the generator through a contact carriage to the motor, whence it is conveyed back through the frame, axle, wheels, and rails.

Fourthly, the employment of storage batteries, placed preferably under the seats of the car, Fig. 4, with the motor and gear underneath, or the whole placed on a separate locomotive.

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The plan of using the ordinary rails as positive and negative conductors, and insulating the wheels or axles of the cars, is attended with the objection that, owing to the rail supports having to carry heavy loads, there is difficulty in insulating the rails sufficiently to prevent excessive leakage to earth.

Of these four methods the first two are the cheapest and most efficient, but are applicable only to railroads; while the two other plans, of an underground insulated conductor, and of storage cells on the car, are both applicable to street tramways.

Gearing. - Owing to the high speed at which electric motors require to run and the limited space available for them to occupy, the mode of gearing the motor to the axle of the locomotive or car forms an important consideration, more especially in places where the motor is placed upon the car which carries passengers, when noise and vibration would be most objectionable. The following five methods of gearing are those more generally employed: (1) wormwheel gearing; (2) pitch chain gearing; (3) leather belting; (4) rope, either endless or not; (5) toothed wheels.

Worm gearing appears from Mr. Holroyd Smith's experience at Blackpool, where his electric tramway is worked with an underground conductor, to be the best for tramcars. Although as a rule it is not efficient, yet if well designed and properly lubricated it can be rendered more efficient, and probably is fairly suitable for this purpose. Some tests made by Mr. Reckenzaun show a maximum efficiency of 87 per cent. The author thinks that a combination of toothed wheels and friction gear, such as has been introduced by Mr. Raworth for driving dynamos in electric lighting with excellent results where space is a desideratum, would make a silent working and durable form of gear; the friction gear would serve to reduce the speed from the motor to a countershaft; and from the latter the driving wheels of the car would be driven by toothed wheels. The form of gear employed of course depends greatly upon the nature of the traffic and of the rolling stock.

Third Insulated Rail. - As an example of an electric railway with a third insulated rail, that at Portrush, Ireland, is probably the most interesting, as being one of the first started in the world, and also the longest; its total length is six miles. The accompanying diagram, Fig. 5, has been kindly lent by Messrs. Siemens, by whom the railway was planned. Power is generated by two 50 horse-power turbines, driving a dynamo which is capable of generating 100 amperes at 250 volts; the current is transmitted from the River Rush through a distance of 1600 yards to the railway, the resistance of the line being 1.9 ohm. Pitch chain gearing is used, and gives satisfaction. The working expenses amount to less than 3d. per car-mile.

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Another instance, also in Ireland, is the Bessbrook and Newry tramway, which is three miles long and 3 ft. gauge, and is actuated by water power. The accompanying photographs showing the arrangement of the cars have been kindly lent by Dr. Edward Hopkinson, to whose designs the railway was constructed. A turbine which develops 62 horse-power drives two Edison-Hopkinson dynamos, each capable of giving out 25 horse-power at 250 volts. The third rail is of channel section steel, supported in wooden blocks which apparently act admirably as insulators, the leakage being only 1/4 ampere per mile or 0.3 horse-power in all. A train consists generally of one passenger car constructed to carry thirty-eight persons, and three goods wagons, each carrying 2 tons freight. The maximum speed that can be attained is 15 miles per hour. Here also chain gearing is employed. The cost per train-mile is 3.3d. during the busy months, and 4.2d. in slack months; these figures, however, do not include anything for depreciation on the cost of construction of the railway, which was 2500l., nor for general supervision.

Overhead Conductors. - The electric railway at Moedling, near Vienna, is a good example of the employment of overhead conductors. The number of passengers carried during the year 1886 was 342,257, according to Mr. Reckenzaun, and the average cost 3.42d. per car-mile; the coal consumption per car-mile was 13.4 lb. of very inferior brown coal. The current is generated by six Siemens dynamos, driven by three portable engines of 12 nominal horse-power each; the use of these engines may account for the somewhat high consumption of coal. The overhead conductors, which are carried on posts 18 ft. high and 90 ft. apart, consist of slotted tubes in lengths of 15 ft. each, soldered together; a contact carriage slides within the tube, which is 1 in. in diameter inside. Spur gearing is used, but apparently is not satisfactory; the objections to it are the rapid wearing out of the high-speed pinions, the great weight of the gear, and the noise and vibration caused.

The Frankfort Offenbach electric railway, which was opened for traffic on April 10,1884, is similar to that at Moedling, the current being brought to the moving cars by means of slotted iron tube conductors carried overhead. The length of the line is about 4 1/2 miles; the gauge is 1 metre(3 ft. 3 3/8 in.). The sharpest curve has a radius of 98 1/2 ft.; the steepest incline is 1 in 30, and only 18 per cent. of the line is level. The average speed of the cars is 7 1/2 miles per hour. Two cars coupled together start from each end of the line every twenty minutes. Each car has seats for eighteen passengers and standing room for twelve more, the gross weight being 4 tons. The motor is placed under the floor of the car, and the connection to the wheels is made by toothed gearing. The generating station is at Oberrad about the middle of the line, and contains one twin engine of 240 indicated horse-power and one spare engine of 80 to 100 indicated horse-power; in regular work one cylinder only of the twin engine is used, giving off 120 indicated horse-power. The current is generated by three Siemens dynamos, called 300-light; a fourth similar dynamo is in reserve. The working electromotive force is 350 volts. The current generated by the three dynamos is sufficient to keep eight cars running simultaneously.

This plan has been most largely adopted in America, where there are probably not far short of one hundred electric railways at work and projected. It has certainly the recommendation of cheapness, for a higher voltage is permissible, and consequently a smaller conductor with less loss of power than in the case of the third rail; this is more especially important for long lines. As an instance of what is being done, a railway of eleven miles length is now in course of construction at Richmond, and forty cars are building to be worked upon it on the overhead system. Another instance is the railway at Scranton, Pennsylvania, and has been in successful operation about a year. It is 4 1/2 miles long; five cars carrying motors from 15 to 20 horse-power are in use, and four cars of 25 horse-power motors are being constructed, each of which will be able to draw two others; the cars carry seventy-five passengers each. The current is generated by two 100 horse-power dynamos driven by two 180 horsepower engines, one set being spare; the potential adopted is 600 volts. The overhead conductors are of copper 5/16 in. in diameter; the supporting poles are 100 ft. apart, about 20 ft. high, and about 6 in. in diameter at the thick end; the return circuit is through the ordinary rails. The plant is also used for lighting the town. The potential generally employed in America for the longer lines is from 500 to 600 volts; the latter is probably the limit to which it is safe to work. With this potential two 5/8 in. copper conductors would serve to work twenty-five cars in parallel, the current per car averaging about 10 amperes. With a voltage as high as this the leakage on the third-rail system would be excessive.

Underground Conductor. - Perhaps the most important example of this plan is Mr. Holroyd Smith's electric tramway at Blackpool, which has been in successful operation for some two years. The underground conduit (Fig. 6) is somewhat similar to that of a cable tramway such as is working at the present time in Edinburgh and on Highgate Hill, London; but instead of the carrier being used to grip a running cable, it is made to rub along a stationary conductor. The cost of working is stated to be less than 4d. per car-mile; during one week in the season of 1886 there were 44,306 passengers carried at a cost of 45l. for wages and fuel, which is less than one farthing per passenger.

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Where an underground conductor is employed, the advantages of having no slit communicating with the surface of the street are so obvious, that an ingenious plan has been proposed by Mr. Frank Wynne for placing the conductor in a hermetically sealed conduit under the line. A small carrier, which acts as a contact maker between the conductors and short sections of rails laid in the road, travels along the conduit, being actuated by a tiny electromotor and by part of the same current which works the tramcar above it. An absolute synchronism between the tramcar and the carrier is obtained by a simple device. The short sections of rails are in circuit only whilst the car is over them.

A plan has been proposed by Messrs. Ayrton and Perry for making contact between the underground conductor and the section of rail underneath the car, by means of the weight of the car, which actuates an arrangement of levers that make the contact so long as the car is on that section. A plan has also been proposed by them for employing the attraction of a magnet fixed on the car and keepers fixed in boxes underneath the street. The contacts on the keepers are permanently connected with the underground conductor, and when lifted by the attraction of the magnet on the car they make connection with a section of rail, putting the motor in circuit.

Storage Batteries. - Storage batteries on the car have not as yet been much used, though many experiments have been made from time to time. The problem was first attempted by Mr. Reckenzaun, who has done much to perfect the plan. The difficulty is that, if the accumulators are made light, their depreciation is high; while if they are constructed with a thoroughly serviceable make of cell, their weight is very great. The first cost of the cells is also somewhat prohibitive, and their depreciation is high. A trial of this plan on a practical scale is now being made by Mr. Elieson on the North Metropolitan Tramway in London. The storage cells are placed on a separate locomotive car. The motor turns itself round on an upright pivot, by means of a bevel wheel on the armature shaft, gearing with a circular rack fixed on the floor of the car; and the revolution of the motor is transmitted to the axle of the car through mitre gear. Trials are also being made in Brussels, in Philadelphia, and in other places; but there appear to be no very reliable data as to the cost of working. The plan has been unsuccessful in the past, owing to the use of inefficient motors and gear, which require of course an increased size of battery in proportion to their inefficiency; the imperfection of the secondary batteries employed, as pointed out, has also prohibited success. With motors, speed-reducing gear, and secondary batteries all improved, the experiments now being made bid fair to demonstrate the successful working of tramways by electricity in crowded thoroughfares.

Ordinary Rails as Conductors. - The short electric railway of Mr. Volk at Brighton on this system is interesting as being one of the earliest in use in this country. The expenses amount to 2d. per car mile, being made up as follows:

.................................. d.
Gas for engines.......... 1.11
Wages...................... 0.70
Oil and waste............ 0.07
Repair...................... 0.12

Total per car-mile....... 2.00

The total car-miles per annum are stated to be 47,000, and the depreciation at 10 per cent, on the 3000l. cost of construction is therefore equal to 1 1/2d. per car-mile, thus bringing up the total cost to 3 1/2d. per car-mile. Several similar railways are now working or contemplated in seaside towns.

Cost of Working. - From these instances it will be seen that, taking into consideration the fact that the machines here employed are not so efficient as those now being made, an electric tramway may be worked for about 3d. per car-mile; and as the cost of horses is from 7d. to 9d. per car-mile, the importance of electric propulsion for tramcars and short railways is very evident. At the Antwerp Exhibition in 1885, when electric locomotion was beginning to receive consideration in its commercial aspect, a series of trials extending over four months on five different kinds of tramway motors resulted in the first place being assigned to the electric car, in competition with the four following plans, the Krauss and the Wilkinson locomotives separated from the car, the Rowan engine and car combined, and the Beaumont compressed air car. The results of these trials are given in Table III.

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Table III. — Trials of Tramway Motors at Antwerp Exhibition, 1885.

Notwithstanding that the use of electricity for heavy railway traffic has been predicted, the author thinks that, so long as the electricity is generated by dynamos driven by steam engines, steam locomotives will not be discarded in favour of electricity for long distances. But for light railways and suburban lines, underground or overhead, where the use of a steam engine is a nuisance, there can be little doubt that electricity must be largely adopted in the immediate future, as the number of such railways already constructed and in course of planning, is now between one and two hundred.

Underground Haulage. - Electricity has been applied to haulage in various mines. A locomotive car, worked by a current sent through a conductor fixed along the side or the roof of an underground road, could be employed economically whenever the traffic is large and the distance considerable; but there is the objection of requiring a heavy locomotive car, in order to get sufficient tractive power for starting a train of tubs.

In a colliery at Zaukeroda, near Dresden, power is generated above ground by a vertical engine having 10-in. cylinder with 8-in. stroke, which drives a Siemens dynamo. The current is led to the shaft, which is about 60 yards distant, by two bare copper wires; then down the shaft to a depth of 120 fathoms by well insulated conductors, to the T irons, which run along the roof of the wagon way and form the contact rails, as shown in Fig. 7.

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The current is picked off these rails by sliding contact pieces fixed to the locomotive, and is led to a switch, which can turn the full current either through the motor, or first through reducing resistances and then to the motor. A controlling switch with a seat for the driver is placed at both ends of the locomotive, so that perfect control of the speed and of the starting and stopping of the motor is provided. The length of the line is about 700 yards, and the gauge is 22 1/4in. A train consists of about fifteen tubs, each carrying 10 cwt. of coal; and the locomotive weighs rather over 30 cwt. The journey takes from three to five minutes, the speed varying from five to seven miles per hour. The plant cost a little above 800l., including steam engine, dynamo, motor, locomotive car, conductors, and accessories; it has been working successfully since 1882, and was supplied by Messrs. Siemens and Halske, by whom several other mines in Germany have since been similarly furnished. The working cost of hauling 660 tubs per day of sixteen hours is given by Mr. Rowan as follows:

.......................................... s. d.
Driver's wages...................... 5 3
Steam................................. 2 3
Engine driver at surface........ 3 1 1/2
Lubricating, &c..................... 1 1 1/2

........................................ 11 9
Interest and depreciation
at 15 per cent. per year
of 300 working days............. 8 1 1/2

Total working cost per day... 19 10 1/2

For the output of 660 tubs or 330 tons per day this amounts to only about 3/4d. per ton.

Telpherage. - The plan of transporting material in skips on overhead wire ropes by means of electricity, introduced under this name by the late Professor Fleeming Jenkin, of Edinburgh, and illustrated in Figs. 9 to 12, kindly lent by Professor Ayrton, has not so great a field for its use in this country as it may have in less populous regions, because our roads are good, and railways generally near at hand, and we have abundance of water carriage. But in places where material has to be conveyed across hilly districts or over bad roads to the railway or water, it will be found more useful. It has been employed with considerable success for the past two years at Glynde, near Lewes, for transporting clay to the railway over a distance of 1000 yards; 270 tons are carried weekly at 7 1/2d. per ton. In our larger cities a modification of this plan might advantageously be applied to alleviate the heavy street traffic. In the place of wire ropes, stiff girders might be used, the cars being suspended from wheels running along a rail or rails fixed on the girder. Such a railway would be economically constructed, in comparison at least with the expense of constructing an underground railway; and it would not have any great effect in obstructing the light from the streets, as is the case with elevated railroads for steam locomotives.

A general idea of the present position of electric locomotion in Europe and America is furnished by Table IV., which is an abbreviation of one compiled in May, 1887, by Mr. T. C. Martin, President of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

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Engineering
March 2, 1888

THE LINEFF ELECTRIC TRAMWAY SYSTEM.
To The Editor Of Engineering.
Sir, - I have noticed in your issue of the 17th inst. a report of Mr. Gisbert Kapp's remarks in the discussion on Mr. William Geipel's interesting paper at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, in which he makes mention of my underground conductor system of electrical tramway traction which has been on trial for some time past at the Chiswick depot of the West Metropolitan Tramway Company, and where a short length of line is on exhibition as mentioned in your journal a few weeks ago.

I may say, however, that the sketches given are not at all correct, although giving a somewhat rough comparison between my own and Mr. Holroyd Smith's system.

I regret that, owing to certain foreign patent formalities, I am unable to give you detailed sketches at present, but hope to do so in the course of a week or so.

I may, however, in the mean time say that the T pieces occur about every 3 ft. or 3 ft. 6 in. instead of every 3 yards, as mentioned in your report, the brackets holding the conductor to the slot chairs occurring at every other chair, or about every 6 ft. to 7 ft.

Your correction of this small error in your next issue will much oblige, Yours faithfully,

A. L. Lineff, per S. H. H.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
April 27, 1888

AMERICAN NOTES.
An Interesting Experiment. - The Pittsburg Electric Railway Company, finding its line blocked with snow, ordered a large quantity of salt to be thrown along the line so as to dissolve it. The conductors working at a difference of potential of 500 volts were carried in wooden troughs, and the melting snow and salt speedily established a circuit between the conductors with the result of setting fire to the troughs. Surely Mr. Holroyd Smith's famous method of testing the Blackpool line ought to have been a lesson to our Pittsburg friends.

The Electrician
December 7, 1888

ELECTRIC TRACTION.
The report presented at the meeting of the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company (which was printed in our last issue) maybe held to prove that this undertaking has finally emerged from the experimental stage and has developed into a commercially prosperous concern. An increased traffic of nearly 100,000 passengers, making a total of over 700,000 for the year, with a mileage of 90,000 miles, a dividend of 4 per cent, on a paid up capital of £20,000, and a sum of £1,000 carried to the reserve fund, are all unmistakable evidences of practical success, and give every reasonable promise of a prosperous future. But whilst congratulating Mr. Holroyd Smith, the directors, and shareholders on this result, we would take occasion to emphasise the fact that it has far more than a local significance; indeed, we hold that it has, or should have, a most important bearing on the future of electric traction in this country. Its importance arises, as all who are conversant with the circumstances will be aware, from the fact that the Blackpool line is one of the very few existing lines upon which the conduit system is employed. With the exception of the Gravesend line, which the Series Traction Syndicate is now constructing, no other conduit line exists in this country, and but very few - not more than five or six to our knowledge - in America.

The two or three remaining lines in this country, and the majority of those on the Continent, are worked with currents taken off either from one of the ordinary rails, or, more often, from a special third rail; and it is a striking fact that, notwithstanding all that has been said and done in respect of battery traction, we cannot at present point to a single existing illustration of its use in this country. In Brussels, after extensive trials of the Julien system, it has not led to results of a satisfactory character; at Lisbon the same system has just been replaced by that useful animal the mule. In Paris it is true that a line of battery cars has been running between the Porte Maillot and L'Etoile during the last few weeks, but for too short a time to judge of the ultimate result. In Germany and Austria we are unable to recall a single instance of the use of battery cars. In America, so far as our information extends, there are at present three such lines - still, however, in the experimental stage (as against some 80 or 90 worked by overhead lines); whilst in London we must not forget to mention that the Electric Traction Company will shortly have six trams running on the line between Barking and Canning Town. At Birmingham also we have recently mentioned some trials which, so far as the mere working of the car is concerned, have been quite successful. If we finally add that some important orders have recently been fulfilled for Australia, we shall have pretty nearly exhausted the existing evidences of the commercial feasibility of the method in question.

In saying all this, we wish at the same time to make it perfectly clear that we by no means despair of the future of battery traction. We have recently spoken of this as the ideal solution of the problem, provided only that we can obtain the ideal cell. And although that may be, and almost certainly is, an unrealisable standard of perfection, still we do look forward to the time when the battery will have arrived at such a stage of development as to admit of its utilisation for the purposes of electric traction with that degree of confidence which alone entitles a scheme to take rank as a commercial as distinguished from an experimental process. Meanwhile, facts are facts, and until we see the balance-sheet of a company in which a dividend has been paid on the results of this method of working, we must decline to regard it as standing upon the same commercial footing as the other systems to which we have referred.

Seeing the unquestionable and much higher degree of success which batteries designed for lighting have now attained, it may be useful to inquire why this is so. The inferiority of the traction battery is partly accounted for by lack of experience. The experience gained in lighting is at least a hundredfold as great; and yet it has not been until the present year of grace that the E.P.S. Company has developed a cell which may be considered as at least approximating to a final form. This is a deficiency which can only be allowed to work its own cure. Another point of more fundamental importance is to be discovered in the fact that, in order to reduce the weight of traction cells within workable limits, the current density is required to be very considerably greater than in other cases. For lighting work a current density of 1 ampere per 30 or 40 square inches of positive plates is common practice, whilst in the cases which have come under our notice for tractive purposes an output of 1 ampere per 12 to 18 square inches was usually obtained. This consideration is alone sufficient to emphasise the wide distinction between the two problems. Again, the variations in the load on the traction battery, which are necessarily so frequent and so extreme, are highly detrimental to the life of the plates, whilst this state of things is seldom or never paralleled in the case of batteries used for lighting.

The weight of the cells is an objection which operates as a function of the second or third degree; for it not only demands a more substantial and, therefore, heavier car and a more powerful motor, but this in itself involves additional cells to accomplish the work, and so on, like the hare and the tortoise. So that, on the whole, we should scarcely be surprised if in the end we are led to the abandonment of lead batteries for this particular purpose. We are, nevertheless, glad to state, from facts which have recently come to our knowledge, that substantial improvements have been made in the design of lead batteries for traction work, and next week we shall probably have an opportunity of putting before our readers some results which we believe to be the best hitherto attained.

Tramway companies are very naturally averse to any innovation which involves a structural change in their lines, and there are, doubtless, many cases in which the conduit would be just as inadmissible as the overhead system so much in vogue in America. Nevertheless, the results achieved at Blackpool are full of encouragement, and where there is no fundamental objection to the introduction of this system, we feel confident that it would be accompanied by increased dividends to the shareholders. We may add that the little tramway on the Ryde Pier, which is worked on a third rail system, has been shown to cost 25 per cent. less than when horse traction was employed.

The Electrician
December 14, 1888

In connection with the Blackpool Tramway, which, as we recently noted, has now become a most successful commercial concern, our attention has been drawn to the fact that sufficient credit has scarcely been given to the firm of Elwell-Parker, to whose co-operation the present success is very largely due. Mr. Parker's advice and assistance was sought by the directors at a comparatively early stage in the history of the affair, when there were still some serious difficulties to be surmounted. Since this promises to be in some sense an historical undertaking, it is additionally desirable that the credit should be fairly divided, and Mr. Holroyd Smith, we are sure, would be the last person to think otherwise.

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Locomotive Engineers Monthly Journal
January, 1889

Tramways and Electricity.
At a meeting of the New York Electrical Society, held on November 30, Mr. Holroyd Smith, of London, gave a "Talk on Tramways," in which he treated the subject of street railroads, first in a general way, and then with special reference to the electrical method. In beginning his address, Mr. Smith said that too much attention cannot be given to the fact that in electrical railroading the electrician occupies the second place to the engineer, and that the past failures in electric railroading have been due to the fact that electricians, pure and simple, have gone into the domain of engineering without sufficient knowledge to guide them. In other words, the electrician must not expect to succeed in working tramways unless he studies the engineering problems as well. Mr. Smith, in taking up the subject generally, draws attention to the fact that American railroads, or tramroads, were the necessary outcome of the generally bad ordinary roads, whereas in England the roads are uniformly good. While in America the center bearing rail is employed almost universally, in England, and abroad generally, such a rail would not be permitted, and recourse must be had to the grooved rail. Hence, while with American cars and rails the co-efficient of traction amounts to about only eight pounds to the ton, the English rail requires 23 pounds to the ton, so that these things must not be lost sight of in designing cars. It will thus be seen that conditions vary considerably in different countries, even when seemingly they are quite alike. Mr. Smith asserts that the increased power claimed for the driving motors is due to the overestimation of the power required to move the car.

Mr. Smith then entered into the consideration of traction by horses, compressed air, steam and cable, and deplored the fact that while in England the statistics of running expenses of horse car lines were well known and published in Duncan's Tramway Manual, we had no such source of information, and it was with the greatest difficulty that any reliable figures could be obtained with regard to the subject on American lines. Mr. Smith stated that as a rule in England a two horse car running for 14 hours a day required 10 horses. These horses cost £30, and had an average life of three years.

In discussing the question from the electrical standpoint, Mr. Smith drew attention to three essential points that have to be considered: 1. Safety to Public. 2. Efficiency. 3. Economy. Taking up the storage battery first, Mr. Smith held the position that even if the battery could be successfully worked, it would cost one-third more to equip and run a line on this system than to put down a conduit, and especially would this be the case where traffic is very heavy. Mr. Smith was of the opinion that of the various systems the overhead system was the best, taking all into consideration; but the great danger in its use lay in the tendency to do slipshod work. The difficulties met with at crossings and switches in railway work, where conductors of opposite polarity met in a horizontal plane are overcome by placing the conductors in a vertical plane, so that even if contact does occur it can only happen between two positive or two negative conductors. Mr. Smith finally described a new method of his own which was designed to overcome all the objections to both the overhead and underground circuits, and which, without the use of the storage battery, is arranged to supply the motor on the car with electricity. This system, which was only hinted at by the speaker, will no doubt attract some attention in the future.

In the discussion which followed, Mr. T. W. Rae spoke of the experiments made on cars in this city by Mr. C. E. Emery, the well known engineer, who found that the coefficient of traction was 12 1/2 lbs. per ton; and General Q. A. Gilmore states that the general average for the whole country is 16 2/3 lbs. per ton.

Mr. R. G. Blackwell, whose opinions on this subject are well known, deprecated the use of the storage battery entirely, and in replying to a question, remarked that the delay in the construction of the Fulton street road in this city, undertaken by the Bentley-Knight Company, was due to the legal complications, and that all the material required for the road was in store in this vicinity, ready to be applied at the earliest notice.

Mr. C. O. Mailloux, in replying to Mr. Blackwell, detailed the experiments which are now going on upon the Madison avenue line in this city, on a car equipped with 120 cells of Julien storage battery, and which ran from Eighty-fifth street to Harlem Bridge and back, on a run of forty miles, with a drop of but two volts. Mr. Mailloux stated that the Brussels Tramway Company are now operating ten cars of this system, and that before many months have elapsed New York will see as many storage cars in operation. Mr. Mailloux drew special attention to the fact that storage batteries were well adapted to long lines on account of the large conductors required with the overhead and underground systems, where the drop of potential has to be made as small as possible.

Mr. Holroyd Smith confirmed the statement of Mr. Mailloux, but he still claimed that the use of the storage battery was only a transient one. In reply to a question by Mr. Davidson as to whether a conduit had ever been operated in this country, Mr. R. G. Blackwell referred to the experimental line operated in Cleveland on the Bentley-Knight system, and carried on through snow, ice and water without trouble. Mr. Smith also confirmed this fact, and stated that the last winter had been most severe in Blackpool, England, where his road was in operation, but notwithstanding this, the current had practically not stopped in three years since the road went into operation.

After the close of this discussion, Mr. G. F. Harris brought before the society a slip of the cable record made by one of the first Thomson siphon recorders on the cable between Vigo and Penzance, and also made a few explanatory remarks relative to cable work. - The Electrical World.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
March 22, 1889.

Mr. Holroyd Smith seems to have recently developed a penchant for threatening other workers in the same line with lawsuits for infringements of his patents. Not contented with commencing an action against a well-known engineer who, we understand, had tried and abandoned many of Mr. Smith's pet schemes before that gentleman entered the arena of electric traction, he states in the last number of Industries that Messrs. Elwell-Parker are using for the motors of the Birmingham Tramway Company the self-same brushes which he specially designed for the Blackpool cars. He wishes it to be specially understood that he, and he alone, holds the patent for the same. Is Mr. Smith trying to establish another monopoly?

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
May 10, 1889

ABSTRACTS OF PUBLISHED SPECIFICATIONS, 1888.
5196. "Improved means for conducting and collecting currents in electric rail or tramway systems." M. Holroyd Smith. Dated April 7. 1s. 1d. Consists in the arrangement and combination of parts with reference to what are known as overhead systems, although the invention may be adapted for underground or side systems. The claims are 6 in number.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
July 4, 1890

Experts' Opinions.
It is admitted that the Blackpool Electric Tramway has been a commercial success, but this has been attributed by experts in some quarters to the fact that the town is a summer pleasure resort, and that therefore the same happy financial state would obtain with horsed cars. Probably the majority of tramway men consider that the best paying lines are those having a regular traffic, so it is easy to show that the opinions to which we refer are mistaken ones. At Blackpool during winter not more than four cars are run, the mileage being only 45 per car day, whereas in summer eight to ten cars are employed, each with a daily run of 52 miles. To meet these conditions with horses would necessitate buying them when dear and disposing of the bulk of them when cheap, or keeping them in idleness and eating their heads off during the cold weather. How great the actual difference really is can best be shown by an incident which occurred during the summer of 1877. A breakdown occurred in the insulation of the line and horses were hired from one of the large tramway companies in a Lancashire town. During the month when horses were employed, the average cost per week was £113, but during similar periods of time previous to the hitch and since, the electrical working cost has not exceeded £45. It may be urged that using one's own animals would cost less than when depending upon the hire system; still the enormous difference between the figures above quoted must conclusively refute the statement that Blackpool would be as commercially successful if worked by horses.

The Electrical Engineer
July 11, 1890

CORRESPONDENCE.
THE LINEFF TRAMWAY SYSTEM.
To The Editor Of The Electrical Engineer.
Sir, - The method of working tramways by electricity described in your paper of the 4th inst. goes in my office under the name of "the snake trick," because I found, when experimenting in the same direction in 1886, that the employment of a flat strip presented many practical difficulties which, if not already discovered by Mr. Lineff, will make themselves apparent in time, and most of these objections were obviated by the employment of a spiral wire coil which could wave and twist as required - hence the name "snake."

I have not yet published the details by which I met the difficulty of dealing with points and crossings, where it is obvious there is immediate danger of a short. I am therefore curious to know what Mr. Lineff's method will be.

Mr. Lineffs "magnetic stitches" differ from mine in that they may be described as "lock stitches," and mine as "chain stitches." His arrangement is certainly ingenious, and I hope it will be effective, but it would require very thorough and practical demonstration to convince me of its reliability; and if Mr. Lineff confines himself to the details shown we are not likely to come into collision, but please leave me my "snake," the anatomy of which was of varied form.

It is interesting to see my collector magnet illustrated. It may save Mr. Lineff a little occasional annoyance if I point out a detail that has escaped him - viz., the pins, C, should not be vertical as shown, but inclined thus; the hauling attachment is not then so likely to slip off, an eyed loop being sufficient.

There are several other details connected with this system necessary for its completement which I shall be pleased to point out, if it is considered sufficiently interesting.

Mr. Binswanger, who was, I believe, the first to patent the employment of a travelling collector magnet for electric tramway purposes, would probably do the same.

After going into the matter pretty freely at the time, I came to the conclusion that the "pros" did not equal the "cons," and my drawings and models have all been packed away and labelled "Historic."

M. Holroyd Smith.
Halifax, July 7, 1890.

The Electrical Engineer
July 18, 1890

CORRESPONDENCE.
THE LINEFF TRAMWAY SYSTEM.
To The Editor Of The Electrical Engineer.
Sir, - In your issue of 11th inst., Mr. Holroyd Smith describes what he calls his "snake trick," and winds up his letter by saying "after going into the matter pretty freely at the time, I came to the conclusion that the 'pros' did not equal the 'cons,' and my drawings and models have all been packed away and labelled 'Historic.'"

I was prepared to hear the usual cry "I did it before you." I do not wish to throw any doubt on Mr. Holroyd Smith's statement, and am, therefore, quite ready to admit the possibility of the existence of such things in his "Historic" collection, but that he did not attach much importance to the idea is evident from the fact that no trace of it is to be found in the numerous Blue-books relating to his inventions.

Mr. Holroyd Smith is good enough to offer some advice as to avoiding certain difficulties which he has encountered in working on a system which in the end turns out to be only good enough to be discarded. I am much touched by this mark of goodwill, but as my conductor answers its purpose admirably, while the "snake trick," after getting as far as the model stage, is consigned to oblivion even by its inventor, I think I am in a better position to offer my advice to him. Apparently Mr. Holroyd Smith also thinks there is something in this, for he says: "I am therefore curious to know what Mr. Lineff's method will be."

However, I am not inclined to go into this, but I can certainly tell Mr. Holroyd Smith why his trick will not answer. The spiral he adopts is about the worst possible form to convey the magnetic lines. Talk about lock stitches and chain stitches. The difficulty in Mr. Holroyd Smith's arrangement is to catch them, for they are sure to exist in all directions where they are not wanted, and to be conspicuous by their absence where they could do useful work. And this scarcity of "stitches" is the real reason that the "snake" had to be considered "historic."

The longitudinal sketch again proves that Mr. Holroyd Smith has very little idea of what really takes place under the surface rail. The spiral can never be attracted in the manner indicated. It will either make contact at A A or both at A A, B B, and the power required to effect the attraction will be enormous.

With regard to what Mr. Holroyd Smith takes for pins for hauling purposes, his remarks would certainly have some point if this is what they were. As, however, they happen to be wire brushes, I may be excused if I do not feel any great amount of gratitude for his suggestion.

In conclusion, I may say that there is no "trick" whatever about my magnetic conductor. It is the result of a great deal of patient and painstaking work, and it took me six months to arrange my rails so as to reduce the current necessary to raise my conductor from six to 25 amperes, which it now requires. - Yours, etc.,

A. Lineff.
11, Queen Victoria-street, London, E.C., July 16.

The Electrical Engineer
July 25, 1890

CORRESPONDENCE.
THE LINEFF TRAMWAY SYSTEM.
To The Editor Of The Electrical Engineer.
Sir, - I do not wish to enter into a prolonged correspondence with Mr. Lineff, but as he has formed a wrong conclusion from my letter, others may have done the same; let me, therefore, be more explicit. I used the flat strip in 1886, and do not sanction its adoption by the Lineff Syndicate.

I found the "snake" preferable to the flat strip; it was not a failure. My articulated contact-maker or "snake" was not confined to a spiral wire, but, as stated in my letter of the 7th, its "anatomy was of varied form."

My tests were not mere models, but extended to full-sized apparatus, and finally resulted in a line three times 75 yards long, on which ran a full-sized car, seating 32 passengers.

I am sorry that I mistook the brushes for pins in the magnetic collector; the arrangement shown, however, is just as bad for one as the other. My error, resulting from an imperfect illustration, ought to have saved him from his amusing dissertation on AA, BB.

I do not presume to question Mr. Lineffs claim to superior knowledge, seeing that he has confined his "six months' painstaking work" to the flat strip, but having tried both I prefer the "snake" to the "tape-worm," and probably when Mr. Lineff has completed my cycle of experiments he will come to the same conclusion as myself - viz., that the work can be better accomplished another way.

That Mr. Lineff has carefully searched my "numerous patents," and also those of several others, is evident from his own Blue-books, and hardly needed a public statement on his part to that effect.

Finally, I am quite prepared to contract for the construction of tram lines on the magnetic attraction system. - Yours, etc.,

M. Holroyd Smith.
Royal Insurance buildings, Crossley street,
Halifax, July 19, 1890.

The Electrical Engineer
August 1, 1890

CORRESPONDENCE.
THE LINEFF TRAMWAY SYSTEM.
To The Editor Of The Electrical Engineer.
Sir, - It is Mr. Holroyd Smith's own fault if his letters lead people to draw wrong conclusions. In his last communication, published in your issue of July 25, he evidently tries to treat two totally distinct things as if they were one - viz., his "snake trick" and the "articulated" contact maker, which simply amounts to a switch for each pair of his contact rails.

By his own showing he abandoned the "snake trick," and consigned it to a place amongst his historic relics. Hence, no Blue-book, and only drawings and models quietly lying in some cupboards.

The idea of the articulated contact makers or switches seemed to him more promising, and consequently it was described in his specification No. 17,088, 1886.

We are now informed that on this contact-maker system a line was built and a car seating 32 passengers run upon it - with what result it is not stated.

Considering that the snake is not patented and the switches are, it is tolerably clear why Mr. H. Smith now confuses the two things and speaks of "my snake or articulated contact maker."

His insinuations as to my having searched his Blue-books for my ideas are, to say the least of it, in questionable taste, and will not carry much weight with anyone who has made a special study of electricity. I can assure Mr. H. Smith that the reading of his specifications, especially the electrical part of them, is anything but edifying, though it sometimes becomes a matter of necessity when one has to consult a legal adviser.

Mr. H. Smith endeavours to lay the blame of a mistake in principle upon an "imperfect illustration." If this is so I can only say that the illustration is imperfect in many other respects, in fact, the whole design (as illustrated) is calculated to throw the greatest possible number of obstacles in the way of attaining the end required.

However, the gist of Mr. H. Smith's onslaught is very clearly seen from a letter of his to our secretary, in which he proposes the assignment to him of an interest in our syndicate.

In conclusion, let me tell Mr. H. Smith that my syndicate has nothing to ask of him in the way of sanction, permission, or authority. Mr. H. Smith is perfectly at liberty to lay down his system involving at least 600 switches per mile; but if he employs a continuous magnetic conductor, he will soon involve himself in difficulties, as my syndicate will take immediate legal proceedings against any person attempting to infringe our patents. - Yours, etc.,

Alex. L. Lineff.
11, Queen Victoria-street, E.C., 29th July.

The Electrical Engineer
August 8, 1890

CORRESPONDENCE.
THE LINEFF TRAMWAY SYSTEM.
To The Editor Of The Electrical Engineer.
Sir, - To misunderstand is one thing and is pardonable, but to persistently and deliberately misrepresent is quite another, and the only excuse I can find for Mr. Lineff is the disappointment he must naturally feel in learning that what he honestly thought originated in himself had been anticipated.

I do not think that anyone else but Mr. Lineff will suppose that by a continuous articulated conductor I meant 600 distinct switches per mile. My last letter was sufficiently definite to leave no excuse for such a statement.

For the system itself, surely Mr. Lineff must see that the "snake" overcomes the subsidiary wave theory that has been pointed out as possible by others, and unless Mr. Lineff's experience differs from mine he will find really exists when a flat strip is used. Assume you are at the terminus of a line, and four or five cars are waiting to start and they all pick up at the same time, what becomes of the flat strip? If that strip has really lain flat before the cars were there, and the four cars whilst close together try to pick up, forming four waves in four car lengths, and move those four waves along as they proceed, what happens? The conclusion I arrived at as the result of my experiments with the flat strip is that the waves either will not all be made or they will not all be unmade; one or more will be left touching the upper surface, leaving a positive danger to the public. The contact maker must, therefore, be articulated, or it must not be continuous. It occurred to me that it might be expedient to use sectional strips, each, say, of two car lengths, but seeing the possibility of the separate lengths of strip being gradually worked forward by the wave action and overlapping one another, I designed a simple method of keeping them in position.

I have read with interest the appendix to Mr. Kapp's report, and thoroughly endorse his opinion that it will be necessary to adopt some means for keeping the closed channel dry. I went into the matter in the early part of 1887, and found the addition to the capital outlay was not slight; perhaps my details were unnecessarily complete. An initial insulation of only 186 ohms per mile is too low. Remember that this is obtained by calculation from a short sample length constructed presumably with the greatest care. To have a few miles of line laid without a flaw is more than can be reasonably expected. I venture to predict that unless some system of drying be adopted, or the closed channel be made more like my own, the insulation will not be more than 100 ohms per mile. Now for two miles of street with double line this would only give 25 ohms as the total insulation, without adding the surface leakage when the cars are running.

Measurements taken on the short sample line cannot be accepted as what would occur in practice, where points and crossings have to be encountered. Take the accompanying sketch as illustrating what frequently occurs, and assuming that the by no means easy problem of maintaining means of communication with the enclosed conductor and avoiding short-circuit with the intersecting rails is overcome, what will be the surface leakage on a wet day with cars in the positions indicated by the letters A, B, C when the charged region behind each car extends as far as 8ft. 6in.?

I confess that I failed to make my flat strips wave round curves, hence my reason for preferring the "snake." I also confess that if my system left 8ft. 6in. of live contact rail behind the car I should hesitate to deal with the conditions shown in this sketch.

There is a point not yet touched upon in any notices I have seen on this system - viz., assuming the maximum current to be passing to a motor on a car, and that from some accident the collector magnet ceases to be energised, releasing the "strip," it won't drop suddenly nor will it altogether subside; the wave crest will simply be depressed, leaving the magnet surface bar above it, and so breaking circuit at this point. I leave those who have had experience in switching off big currents to say what would happen inside the closed channel. As there is no facility for examination, this becomes a most serious matter.

Taking the points mentioned and others into consideration, it seemed to me that the system was only applicable to country places, where it is to be hoped English authorities will before long permit overhead conductors, and as tramway companies are still expecting commercial success with batteries, I have had no opportunity of testing its merits beyond my sample line. The system, therefore, has from necessity as well as from choice become historic. - Yours, etc.,

M. Holroyd Smith.
Halifax, August 5, 1890.

The Electrical World
August 9, 1890

OUR ILLUSTRATED RECORD OF ELECTRICAL PATENTS.
432,646. Motor for Electric Railways; Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, County of York, England. Application filed Oct. 29, 1887. Patented in England April 21, 1886; in Belgium Nov. 11, 1886; in France Nov. 20,1886, and in Italy Dec. 16. 1886. The combination, with a car, of a motor, the magnets, yoke, an armature spindle of which all are in the same plane, the motor being supported in swinging bearings beneath the car.

The Electrical Engineer
August 15, 1890

CORRESPONDENCE.
THE LINEFF TRAMWAY SYSTEM.
To The Editor Of The Electrical Engineer.
Sir, - I have to thank you for the valuable space you have so kindly placed at my disposal with reference to my magnetic conductor; but I think there must be a limit even to an editor's patience, and with your permission I will close my correspondence on the subject. Mr. Holroyd Smith has too many "doubts," and his "snake trick" evidently gave him more trouble than satisfaction, otherwise he would not require so much "information."

Of course, Mr. H. Smith cannot expect me to give such information for nothing, or to lay open before him all my memoranda, diagrams, etc., in fact, the whole experience and practical knowledge I gained while studying the question.

I can assure him, however, that what seems very difficult to him might not be so puzzling to others, and his "doubts" are capable of a very easy and satisfactory solution.

With regard to his claims of priority, of course, he knows his remedy, but he must prove them. - Yours, etc.,

Alex. L. Lineff.
11, Queen Victoria-street, EC, Aug. 13.

The Electrical Engineer
October 10, 1890

CABLE v. ELECTRICITY.
In a discussion on tramway working, Mr. Holroyd Smith writes:

The direct system of working street tramways by underground electric conductors is in appearance similar to a cable line, with the following differences:

The slit or opening in the road-surface does not exceed 5/8in., whilst for cables it is frequently 1 1/4in wide.

The electric channel or conduit only needs to be half the depth of a cable channel, and therefore does not interfere with gas and water-pipes, as is frequently the case with the cable system.

Instead of a running rope rattling over pulleys there is a stationary conductor.

Instead of a gripper, attached to the car and made to grasp or release the running cable, and liable to derangement, causing serious accidents and loss of life, there is a contact-making "plough " passing through the slit, lightly touching the enclosed electric conductor, and passing the current to the motor on the car. If any derangement occurs, the only consequence is the stoppage of the car.

The cable car can only go in one direction, at one speed, and starts with a sudden impulse.

The electric car can go in either direction, and starts with a gradual silent movement, and the rate of travel may be increased to any desired speed, thus enabling the cars to "catch up" if delayed through any cause, instead of blocking en masse, as is the case with the cable system.

A strong man is required to operate the gripping lever of the cable car; a boy can easily drive the electric car, and cause it to move forward or backward quickly or slowly at will.

The electric car can move slowly round a street corner, whereas the cable car is whirled round at the maximum speed - a most dangerous practice.

The electric car, being only 10cwt. heavier than an ordinary tramcar, can be easily removed from the track in case of need, the "collector," or "plough," being instantly detachable, not a permanent fixture like the cable grip.

The one advantage the cable car has over the electric car is that it can deal with hills, however steep - straight up, if need. The electric car can, however, mount any hill suitable for ordinary street traffic.

An electric car could easily mount a zigzag gradient that would be practically impossible with a cable.

When once the conductors are laid, electricity has the same practical efficiency as the cable in dealing with exceptionally heavy traffic, at a trifling increase to the ordinary working expenses.

The electric conduit system is much cheaper to construct and equip than the cable, much easier and cheaper to work, less costly in maintenance and repairs, and gives a percentage of efficiency for the power expended at the depot of more than three times that obtainable by cable haulage.

The Electrical Engineer
October 17, 1890

Leeds. - A meeting of the Tramways Sub-committee of the Leeds Corporation was held on Tuesday, Alderman Firth, the chairman, presiding, to consider the question of running the Roundhay-road tramways by electricity. Mr. Holroyd Smith waited upon the committee and explained his system of working electric railways, and made an offer to the committee to work the Roundhay-road tramways. After consideration, the committee decided to recommend the General Committee to continue the negotiations with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, with the view of leasing the Roundhay-road lines to that company, if the committee think satisfactory arrangements can be made, so that the matter may be brought before the Council at an early date. At the meeting of the Highways Committee on Wednesday, it was unanimously decided to adopt the recommendation of the Tramways Sub-committee. In accordance with this decision, the chairman (Alderman Firth) and the town clerk (Sir George Morrison) were desired to get a provisional agreement drawn up, so that it might be submitted to the Town Council at an early a date as possible. We understand that this particular system of electric tramcars has recommended itself to the committee from the circumstance that the company have stated that they would undertake not to charge more than 1d. per journey from Sheepscar police station to Roundhay Park, and that they would be prepared to erect plant and work the cars for two years, at the end of which experimental period they would be open to agree to terms, if desired, for the transfer of the property to the Corporation.

The Electrical Engineer
October 24, 1890

Bradford Tramways. - Mr. Cox, the borough surveyor of Bradford, has drawn up a valuable report on tramways, with a view to the adoption of some other method of propulsion than steam, which he terms objectionable. He has visited Birmingham and Edinburgh, and is much impressed with the advantages of cable trams, though the route on which it is proposed to introduce the system at Bradford is somewhat unsuitable. Still, he thinks the mechanical difficulties are not insurmountable. With regard to electric traction, he is of opinion that the Manningham-lane line would be a very good one on which to try experiments with an electric car, as the gradients compare favourably with the Birmingham line. He mentions that it is probable that the Electric Construction Corporation would be glad to lend a car for the experiment, and that the accumulators could be charged at the Bradford central station in Bolton-road. His statement that the car receipts at Birmingham are 20d. per car mile with electric as against 10d. with horse traction should have some influence with the Corporation when they consider his report.

[Lock]

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
July 10, 1891

The Tramways Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. - No one need be surprised at the fact that electric traction monopolised the major portion of the time at the annual meeting of this institute on the 2nd inst. The Tramways Institute is to be congratulated upon the possession of such a broad-minded and well-informed president as Mr. Carrathers-Wain. His recent travels through the United States have put him in the position of an unbiassed judge of the merits of electric traction, as well as upon every other kind of traction in vogue at the present time. Between the hours of 11.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m., electricity pervaded the whole assembly, which consisted mostly of tramway directors and managers. Among invited electrical men were Mr. Gisbert Kapp, Mr. A. Reckenzaun, Mr. Jarman, Mr. Gordon, and Mr. Holroyd Smith.

-----------------------------------------

THE TRAMWAYS INSTITUTE.
The annual meeting of the Tramways Institute of Great Britain and Ireland was held on Thursday of last week at the Westminster Palace Hotel, under the presidency of Mr. W. J. Carruthers-Wain. As compared with the assembly in the previous year, the proceedings on the 2nd inst. were remarkable from the facts that the subject of electricity as the motive power on tramways occupied the attention of the institute for about four hours, and that the interest of the representatives of the tramway companies in the United Kingdom has now been fully manifested in the desirability of introducing modern methods of traction if the latter can be rendered commercially remunerative.

During the course of the formal business of the meeting the chairman referred to the Bill of the Birmingham Central Tramways Company, authorising them to employ electric traction, as reported in our "Parliamentary Notes." In the chairman's opinion that was one important reason why tramway companies should be united among themselves.

The Lineff System.

The first paper read was by Mr. Gisbert Kapp on the "Lineff System of Electric Traction," which has already been described in previous issues of the Review. The first portion of the paper was devoted to a consideration of different methods. Mr. Kapp referred to the advantages of a closed conduit and compared it with the slotted rails at Budapest, where an underground conductor system prevails. The author maintained that such an underground open conduit system is rather expensive and was objected to by the general public and by tramway men; Lineffs system therefore offered advantages, both in cost and convenience, over the older rival. Overhead conductors cannot be tolerated here, and storage battery cars were almost twice as heavy, therefore the power necessary to propel the vehicles is in the proportion of 11.5 to 6.5, the larger figure representing the energy requisite for the battery car, the smaller for a car deriving its current from a metallic conductor. This did not only affect the coal bill, but also the depreciation and interest upon the larger plant requisite. Mr. Kapp stated, among other things, that the weight of a full sized storage car in service was 11 tons, and that of a car which derived its power from a conductor laid along the line 8 tons. The average electrical horsepower required during the time the car was in operation might be taken as 7 1/2 H.P. and 5 1/2 H.P. respectively; the average loss in the conductor was 5 and 20 per cent., and in the batteries from 30 to 40 per cent. Thus the power which had to be generated at the depot calculated over the whole time the cars were in service was 11 1/2 H.P., and 6 1/2 electrical H.P. respectively, or say 15 I.H.P. and 8 1/2 I.H.P. per car. Mr. Lineff estimated the cost per mile of double track at £2,500. The speaker had found that the loss in collecting the current was 9 per cent., leaving 91 per cent. for propulsion. About a year ago he made insulation tests on the Chiswick line, and found that the average insulation resistance per mile was 4,475 ohms. This figure was unsatisfactory, and he urged upon Mr. Lineff the necessity of improving the insulation. The latter gentleman had since then devised an arrangement which was shown by means of a model. In this new arrangement of conduit, the conductor consisted of a copper trough supported at intervals by earthenware insulators instead of, as was the case formerly, its touching the bottom of the channel along its whole length. By that means the area of the surface along which a leakage of current could take place had been greatly reduced and the insulation very much increased, the principle being similar to the arrangement in certain parts of London of the electric light mains. From figures of tests supplied to him by Mr. Lineff, the speaker found with the new arrangement of conductor that the insulation averaged 35,000 ohms, and he had no doubt that it might be increased to 100,000 ohms by blowing cold air into the channels in the manner adopted by Prof. Robinson for the electric light mains in connection with the station of the St. Pancras Vestry. The new method had also the advantage that the iron strip could be withdrawn for renewal or cleaning without disturbing the surface of the street, this being accomplished by the arrangement of draw-boxes at certain intervals.

In opening the discussion,

Mr. Sturgeon, of Chester, stated that he was of opinion that when it was desired to stop or reduce the speed of the car, the inserting of resistance into the circuit would cause a great loss of power. It seemed to him that as the motive power was electricity, and no solid coupling was used, there was considerable danger of the conductor being dropped, and of the power being lost at a critical moment.

Mr. A. Dickinson, of the South Staffordshire Tramways Company, of Darlaston, had just returned from the United States, where he had investigated the various methods of electric traction there employed. He thought that it would be quite as impossible to prevent damp and wet from getting to the Lineff conductor as in any ordinary system. If water, in sufficient quantities, were to find its way into the conduit, so as to form a conducting medium to the earth, there would be an enormous loss of current. In Boston, a conduit from 2 feet to 3 feet deep had been used, and dirt and water could not be kept out. The moisture ascended the sides of the conduit, and forming contact with the earth, there was a great loss of current, the ultimate result being that the system had to be abandoned. That being the case with a 3 feet conduit, how was water to be prevented from entering the Lineff conduit? With reference to the sectional rail, how was the road dirt to be kept off it and the current collected? Even with the overhead system in America, the loss of current was considerable, and it had been found necessary to doubly insulate the feeders and trolley wires by insulating the insulators. He concluded that if such leakages could not be hindered in the United States, where there was only the moisture, it would not be possible to do so with the Lineff system, where water might collect at the bottom of the conduit.

Mr. A. Reckenzaun rose next and assured the meeting that he had not come to advocate any particular system of traction, but he felt the greatest interest in the subject from every point of view, and he had studied and practically worked on this question for upwards of nine years. He was very much interested in Mr. Kapp's paper, but he was bound to take exception to several of his statements. With regard to the insulation measurements of Mr. Lineff it appeared to him somewhat premature to give the values per mile, considering that the tests made were on an experimental track some 70 yards long, and in the condition of a laboratory experiment. The possibility of leakage increases with the length of the line, especially in this case where sections of conducting rails are periodically in actual contact with the roadway, which, after a soaking rain, must be a good conductor. Moreover, the minutest cracks in the conduit, which are likely to result through abnormally heavy road traffic, will readily establish sources of leakage between the inner conductor and the earth surrounding the channel. Mr. Kapp had referred to the objection against slotted conduits, and he had also mentioned the Budapest electric tramway. At Budapest the conduit was immediately underneath one of the tramrails, which must have slots for the wheel flanges to run in, there is therefore no additional opening in the road. What tramway men want nowadays were figures relating to the working costs of propelling cars by electricity, and he (Mr. Reckctzaun) had brought such concerning two important continental lines. The combined length of the electric tramlines at Budapest is 16 kilometres; it has been in operation for about 18 mouths. The popularity of the electric system is shown by the large number of passengers carried per kilometre. In the month of April, 1890, the number of passengers per kilometre was 2,590, and this increased in December of the same year to 3,621. The horse tramways of the same city, however, carried 2,730 and 2,267 passengers during the corresponding months, showing a material falling off. The maximum speed allowed by the muncipality is 11 miles per hour. The expenses of the electric tramway amounted to only 45.4 per cent. of the gross revenue, whilst with the horse tramways of the same city, the ratio between expenditure and income was 71.8 per cent., which corresponds with the best English tramways. Referring to the cost of construction and equipment of Austrian lines, it was shown that the horse tramways of Vienna have cost £4,100 per kilometre; the steam tramways of this city, £7,000; and the electric tramway of Budapest £3,000 per kilometre, of which £1,400 was expended on the conduits and conductors. The electric traction expenses, inclusive of all charges were during the year 1890, 2.8 pence per car kilometre. The other line which was in his mind was that of Frankfort, which has been in operation for about seven years. In this case also comparisons can be made between horse traction and electric traction. The Frankfort electric tramway is worked with overhead conductors, and it has been built by the same firm as the Budapest line - Messrs. Siemens and Halske. Last year the electric cars made 519,770 car kilometres at a cost of 2.73 pence per kilometre; whereas the traction expenses on the horse car lines of Frankfort were 5.04 pence per car kilometre, showing a saving of 46 per cent. But in the case of the electric line two cars were always coupled together, carrying only one driver and one conductor, whereas the horse cars had each a driver and a conductor, consequently the comparison is not quite fair. On the other hand, the horse tramway has a very much greater traffic. It can easily be shown that if the electric tramway were worked on the same scale as the horse tramway, and each car had its own motive power and attendants, the saving would amount to at least 40 per cent. In conclusion, Mr. Reckeneaun wished to point out another error in Mr. Kapp's paper, and that related to a comparison between the power required to propel a storage battery car and an electric car connected with overhead or underground conductor. It has been repeatedly found, in practice, that the energy necessary at the central station is practically the same for all cases under similar conditions. It is perfectly true that the storage battery car has from 1 1/2 to 2 tons more weight to carry, and that the working efficiency of the cells is not much more than 70 per cent. But the plant at the central station with conductor system must be large enough to respond at any moment to the greatest demand for current, and this is often three to four times as great as the average working rate. The fluctuations in power are enormous; within the space of a few seconds it may vary between zero and the utmost energy the engine may be capable of exerting: this is a serious disadvantage with the conductor systems and entails a waste which is infinitely greater that that usually accounted for as "loss on the line," etc. Storage batteries, on the other hand, arc charged with a constant current; the engine and dynamo run all day at their best efficiency with a steady load, and the fluctuations occur only in the car, where the cells give out any energy demanded by the exigencies of road and load. The losses due to the conversion of energy in the batteries and the extra weight are fully compensated by the steady working at a uniform rate of the charging plant.

Mr. W. J. Carruthers-Wain, of the Birmingham Central Tramways Company, &c., found on a recent visit to the United States that electricity for traction purposes was an advantage both to the public and the tramway companies. Many of the tramway companies were converting their lines into electric roads. Respecting the Lineff system, he desired to know the cost of the generating plant generally, of the cars, and the estimated cost of working per mile, and whether the £2,500 stated as the cost of laying down the system referred to a new line or the conversion of a horse tramway into an electric line. Turning to the Birmingham accumulator cars, he said that he was unable to give the actual cost of working owing to the financial year having only just terminated. He was, however, in a position to state general results of the operation of the line during the past three years, as follows:-

Year.. System ......... Miles Run... Total ... Receipts per
............................................... Receipts . car mile

1889.. Horse cars ..... 134,000 .... £6,338 ... 11.30d.
1890.. Horse cars
....... and omnibuses . 136,000 .... £5,264 .... 9.29d.
1891.. Electric cars ... 148,000 .... £8,949 ... 14.46d.


These figures were very favourable to electric traction. He was glad to hear from Mr. Rcckenzaun that in some cases of electric traction the expenses amounted to only 45 per cent. of the revenue; it would be a fortunate thing for British tramway shareholders if such a condition of affairs could be evolved this side of the Channel. He was agreably impressed with what he saw in the United States during his protracted travels last year, and he found that the electric roads over there were doing well, many paid substantial dividends, and he was sure they will do even better in future. The relative figures obtained by the Washington Census Bureau on various methods of traction came out as follows :- Cable, 6.77 pence per mile; electricity, 6.34, and animals 8.75 pence per car mile.

In reply to Mr. Carruthers-Wain,

Mr. Kapp stated that with modern steam dynamos the total cost of the generating plant at the depot would amount to about £25 per electrical HP. required, or about £200 for machinery per car. A gradient of 1 in 20 was the highest he would care to design a car to mount. In answer to Mr. Sturgeon, he said that an electric motor would work economically at a wide range of load, and that there was no motor so elastic in its application as an electric motor. Mr. Dickinson had referred to the double insulation of overhead wires. With the Lineff system, however, it was not proposed to place the conductor out in the rain. When the road was dirty, sparking would ordinarily take place, but by the addition of brushes the difficulty had been overcome. A scraper was carried at the head of the car, in order to remove obstacles, and in muddy or wet weather the collection of current was best effected. With reference to the cracking mentioned by Mr. Reckenzaun, he had taken a steam roller over the Chiswick without any injurious effect.

The Jarman System.

Mr. A. J. Jarman then read a paper on "Self-contained Electrical Tramcars." This referred in detail to the Jarman system, which was described in this journal some time ago. In speaking of storage batteries, he said that one serious objection had been overcome, namely, the burning asunder of the lugs and bridges, which involved frequent repairs, and consequently militated against the regular working of the cars. The cause of this defect was not at all times due to the flow of a heavy current, but to the cracking and crystallising of the leaden lugs and bridges. He had overcome this difficulty hv inserting a solid 1/4 inch tinned copper conductor in the centre of the lug and bridge, and duplicating the connections throughout, thus making a combined lug and bridge that would carry 450 amperes safely, and at the same time reduced the internal resistance of the cell to one-half, the tendency being when the fly nuts were tightened to improve the connection rather than to injure it. The fly nuts of the improved cells he had devised were made of aluminium, and weighed only 100 grains when finished, the double connected lug being always used when the plates of the cell were vertical. An example of improvements made in storage batteries for traction purposes was shown by one of the cells exhibited at the meeting, and in which the alloying of aluminium with lead in the plates stiffened the plate and increased the capacity of the negative plate to absorb and retain hydrogen. The composition of the material which eventually became active was such that it contracted so much in the drying that it was impossible to use it to paste a plate, but it swelled or expanded to a certain extent during the process of forming, so that it made perfect contact with the metallic part of the plates, and when the plates were formed they had quite a metallic ring in them when tapped with the hand. The form and construction of the battery plates was such that the material which eventually became active was so keyed in that it could not, and did not, fall out when the battery was in action. The author had not found these plates to buckle at any time, even when discharging up to 300 amperes. Where the plates were arranged horizontally, if any material should by any means fall from one plate on to the next, then that material became a part of the lower plate during the process of charging, and should any powdery material fall or get washed down the sides by the action of the liquid, then if the space at the bottom of the cell became filled so as to touch the plate, it simply increased the capacity of the bottom plate instead of short-circuiting the lot, which had often happened with the cells which had been in use during the past five years. As regarded the durability of the storage battery, he had reason to believe that the number of discharges those cells would bear would be at least half as many again as borne by those now in use, if not double the number, before any renewal of positive plates was required. The author estimated the consumption of fuel, wear and tear of machinery, and renewal of batteries, would amount to about 2d. per car-mile.

Mr. W. Mason, of Bradford, was of opinion that storage battery cars only would succeed in this country. The main considerations were what would be the cost of putting a line of cars into service, and would they be remunerative. He desired something more economical than horse haulage, and they would all be glad to substitute electricity, if that agency would pay as a motive power.

Mr. W. Turton, of Leeds, said that his company had adopted steam years ago, which costs between 4d. and 5d. per mile. If they saw a system as cheap as steam, they could not adopt it because of the large capital to be again invested. They could not throw away their plant. Any new system of traction on an existing line would have to be charged with the new capital to be invested plus the capital already sunk, and that was a difficult thing. The shareholders expected dividends which must be earned not by increasing the capital charge, but by increased economy, and advocates of improved systems of traction must bear this in mind when they calculate the probable economy of the changed conditions.

Mr. Archer said it was simply a question of "What can you do it at?" He advocated storage batteries if a good battery can be got, one which would last and be economical. The overhead wires in America gave a good deal of trouble; they interfered with the telegraphs and the telephones.

Mr. Jarman was sure that he had a good motor, and he hoped that his battery will be lasting.

The last paper on electric traction was read by Mr. J. Gordon, who described his closed conduit system, which has been experimented with at the works of Messrs. Merryweather and Sons, of Greenwich, for several months with, it is said, satisfactory results. The general principle of the system is a series of contacts charged by means of automatic magnets in a box placed in the ground at intervals of 90 yards, or about 20 per mile of track. A shoe carried by the car slides upon the third rail, and the current is collected as the car proceeds, the section under the car only being charged with current.

Mr. Scott-Russell knew the difficulties which cropped up in practice, and most practical men were aware of it. He quite agreed that the accumulator system was the only possible system in this country, but most of the experiments had been disastrous to the promoters. The Brussels experiments had been given up. On a certain line in London accumulator traction is said to cost 9d. per car mile; and at Birmingham a similar system costs 10d. per mile. Unless Mr. Jarman demonstrates practically that with his system he can work at less than half these figures, it is useless to look at it. The lead accumulator has got as far as it ever can get.

Mr. Holroyd Smith told the meeting that Mr. Gordon described a system which he (Smith) invented long ago, in fact Mr. Gordon copied almost his own words in the paper. Mr. Smith asked the council of the Tramways Institute to formulate exactly those items which are to be included in the traction expenses; it was an unsettled question. He did not claim to be a scientist, but rather a practical man, and he would guarantee that electric traction with his system was cheaper than cable, horses or compressed air, and he offered to equip any line, and run it at his own cost, until it suits the tramway company to take it over, and he requires no other compensation but the amount of money hitherto paid on the given line for horse traction.

Mr. Sturgeon created much mirth by exclaiming that since the advocates of electric traction are condemning each other there is nothing left but the compressed air system, and he subsequently read a paper entitled "Compressed Air Motor" (Hughes and Lancaster system).

Mr. A. Netter read a paper on the Connelly motor, which is a petroleum engine, and he offered to run tramcars with this motor for half the cost of any existing electric system. Compressed air, Mr. Netter said, was nowhere, and no invention of any age has had the puffing which the electric motor had, and in his opinion the success of electric traction is extremely doubtful. These statements were received with loud laughter.

The Chairman closed the discussion of the last electrical paper by saying that the members of the Tramway Institute were eminently practical men. What they wanted is not experiments, or occasional runs with one car, but the working results of a fair ordinary condition of service. It is not our business to find out the best system, but we would take it over when it is ready for every-day use. There are a number of lines in this country where we should welcome the advent of any perfected system. With regard to traction with accumulators, there is, behind the scenes, more than the public are aware of. The Brussels system has not been an entire failure; it was opposed by parties in the company. The Barking Road line was a small affair, too small to form a broad judgment of its real value; people tell me that they are satisfied with it. As regards the Birmingham battery cars, although he is chairman of the company owning these cars, he had not got the actual figures yet, and he would ask Mr. Scott-Russell where he obtained the figures as to the working expenses. Whatever the financial success may be, it has already been demonstrated that the revenue has been increased 50 per cent. by means of the electric cars. But we hope that the working expenses will turn out in favour of the novel method. We had several difficulties to contend with at Birmingham which had nothing to do with the electrical part. The rails were one inch and more out of gauge, and gentlemen in this room will know what this means, what energy there must be wasted in grinding through steel rails.

In the course of his reply, Mr. Jarman stated that he was prepared to stand or fall by his cars.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 1, 1891

The Hub of the Universe again to the Fore. - The Boston Post, of June 14th, contains a long account of the improved system of the Union Electric Car Company. We are gravely assured that the devices of the Union Electric Car Company enable the storage battery to be utilised with marked success, as experience abundantly proves. This electrical device, covered by broad patent claims, enables the battery to receive back a portion of its electrical energy while the car is in motion by converting the motor into a generator. Whenever the car is slowed, stopped, or is running on a downward grade, the motor generates a current that is conveyed back into the storage batteries and partially replenishes the loss of electricity entailed by propelling the car up grades or on a level road. Tests have shown that on the Beverly road the maximum return is more than is taken out at any one time. This return current has never before been produced by a series-wound motor, and it is accomplished by charging the field magnets from a supplementary battery. The comparatively small amount of electricity required to run the cars of the Union Electric Car Company, combined with this process of automatic recharging while in transit, make the use of storage batteries perfectly feasible, while the weight of the car with the batteries in place is 1,000 to 2,000 lbs. less than the ordinary electric car operated by the overhead system. The only thing to be done in England now that the Union Company recovers more than is taken out of the battery at any given time, is to seek permission to use the system. Holroyd Smith, Reckenzaun, Elieson, Lineff, &c, are not within miles of this result.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
August 21, 1891

Edinburgh and Electrical Tramways. - Mr. R. Addison Smith, S.S.C., Edinburgh, and Mr. Holroyd Smith, electrical engineer, London, have opened negotiations with the municipal authorities of Edinburgh for the purpose of introducing the electric system of propelling tramcars into the city. The proposal is under consideration.

The Electrical Engineer
September 4, 1891

Bradford Electric Tramways. - With the view of obtaining a good basis of calculation as to the advisability of the adoption of the overhead electrical system for the Wakefield-road tramway, the Tramways and Baths Committee of the Bradford Corporation have been making arrangements for an experiment with overhead conductors. The arrangements, according to the Bradford paper, for this test are now completed, and will be submitted to the Town Council in the minutes of the committee at the next Council meeting. Mr. Holroyd Smith, the well-known electrical tramway engineer, has undertaken to run an electric car on the tram lines from the Midland Station to the Bradford Grammar School, starting from each end every quarter of an hour, for several weeks, for the purpose of proving the reliability of the system; and he hopes also to prove that the adoption of the system for Wakefield-road would not be too expensive a matter. Mr. Smith will provide the car and execute all the necessary works. The Corporation will supply the electric power, and, by the proposed agreement, if the experiment is not a success, they will not be put to any expense beyond the cost of the supply of the electricity. If it be successful the Corporation will contribute £500 towards the cost of the experiment, and if they proceed to utilise the electrical system for the Wakefield-road tramway, they will appoint Mr. Holroyd Smith as the electrical engineer, giving him a commission of 4 per cent, on the cost of the work falling in his department. The Bradford Tramways and Omnibus Company have granted the use of their lines for the purpose on the condition that they shall provide a conductor for the car and collect and retain the penny which it is proposed to charge each traveller. The car will carry 36 passengers, half of them inside and half outside. Further information as to the working of tramcars by this system is to be obtained by the chairman of the committee and the borough surveyor, who will shortly go to Frankfort, a town in which the conditions as to levels are pretty similar to those in Bradford, to investigate the results of the working of electric tramways there.

The Electrician
September 11, 1891.

OBITUARY.
LOUIS JOHN CROSSLEY. We have to record with great regret the death of Mr. Louis John Crossley, which occurred at Halifax on August 30th. Although one of the earliest members of the Society of Telegraph Engineers, fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, an inventor of very considerable success, and regarded in the North as a high authority on electrical and mechanical engineering, yet, on account of his retiring disposition and modesty, he was seldom to be seen in scientific gatherings other than those which he so ably assisted in his own town and the neighbourhood. Mr. Crossley was the only son of the late Mr. John Crossley, of Manor Heath, Halifax, and grandson of the founder of the enormous carpet-making industry at the Dean Clough Mills, the largest carpet works in the world.

SNIP

In his garden was laid a miniature electric tramway, worked by the dynamo in his house. It was on this line that Mr. Holroyd Smith made his first experiments in electric traction.

The Electrical Engineer
September 25, 1891

Electric Tramways for Bradford. - Electrical engineers will be pleased to learn that Mr. Holroyd Smith, after achieving his success at Blackpool, is now in fair way of obtaining a fresh conquest for electric traction at his native town of Bradford. A trial has been agreed upon by the Municipality on the overhead system, on tho Wakefield-road Tramway, and Mr. Holroyd Smith has undertaken to run an electric car for six weeks to prove the success of the system. The car will be provided at his own expense, whilst the current is to be obtained from the municipal central station. The Corporation will pay the expense if the experiment prove a success, otherwise they will only bear the loss of the current. If satisfactory, and the system is adopted, Mr. Holroyd Smith is to be appointed electrical engineer. The car is to carry 36 passengers, and will run on one of the Bradford Tramway Company's lines. His recent statement, received as a hyperbole, that he would equip a line at his own expense, is apparently to become a fact.

The Electrical Engineer
November 6, 1891

NOTES.
Edinburgh Tramways. - With reference to the continuance of the Edinburgh tramways concession, the Corporation have had a consultation with the directors of the Edinburgh Tramway Company, and suggested the statu quo should be maintained for another three years. The tramway company asked for 10 years, not believing that by the end of three years the question of mechanical traction would be sufficiently settled. By the end of ten it was expected great advances would be made in tramway propulsion, and the question of cable versus electricity fully settled. It is to be hoped it will be settled long before this time now that the electric tramways have fully got a start in Great Britain, but the Edinburgh Corporation seemed to be satisfied, and the longer period will probably be given. A draft Bill for extension and embodying a subvention of £3,000 a year offered by the tramway company for the use of the streets, is to be submitted at a future meeting.

The Electrical Engineer
November 6, 1891

NOTES.
Royal Scottish Society of Arts. - The committee of this society have awarded the following prizes (amongst others) for communications made during last session: Dr. R. Milne Murray, for paper "On an Electrical Bench for Physiological Research," Keith prize, value £21; to F. Grant Ogilvy, for communication "On the Telegraph Exhibits at the International Exhibition," accompanied with the society's honorary silver medal; to E. Manville and J. G. Statter, for paper "On the Telpher and Electric Railways at the Exhibition and on Electrical Traction," accompanied with Keith complimentary silver medals; to A. R. Bennett, for paper "On Electrical Navigation," accompanied with the society's honorary silver medal; to M. Holroyd Smith, for paper "On Electrical Traction," accompanied with the society's honorary silver medal; to Prof. A. B. W. Kennedy, for paper "On a Description and Comparison of the Systems of Electric Lighting at present in use in London," accompanied by the society's honorary silver medal.

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
November 27, 1891

Electric Tramways at Bradford Proposed. - It is intended to try experiments with electric tramways in a few weeks in Cheapside, Bradford, one of the steepest streets of the town. The future tramway policy of the corporation will be largely influenced by the success or otherwise of the experiments.

-----------------------------------------

CITY NOTES.
Blackpool Electric Tramway Company, Limited.
The seventh annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company, Limited, was held in the Victoria Schools, Tyldesley Road, Blackpool, on Saturday afternoon last. The business of the meeting was unusually brief, at least, that portion of it open to the Press, principally by reason of the fact that the question was to be considered in private, of the lapse of the lease which the company holds under the Blackpool Corporation. The lease was one of seven years' limit, and expires during the ensuing 12 months, under an agreement made between the company and the corporation at the time permission was given by the latter body for the putting down of the lines along the front promenade of the town in 1885. Ever since the agreement was made, the company have considered that they have got hold of the wrong end of the bargain, and have several times attempted to obtain the consent of the august body of rulers to relax one or more of the stringent conditions upon which they are held, but all to no avail. Then, again, deputations have waited upon the corporation to endeavour to come to some understanding as to whether the latter are intending to take over the powers of the company; but the negotiations have never led to anything definite, and matters stand where they did at the outset. And this was the position of affairs which the shareholders were called upon to consider.

Mr. Alderman Richard Horsfall, J.P., C.E., F.S.I., the chairman of the directorate, presided, and there were also present: Mr. Alex. J. Bickerstaffe, ex-Mayor of Blackpool; Mr. Jas. Broadbent, Mr. T. H. Morriss, J.P., Mr. John Oddie, and Mr. Theodore Ormerod, directors.

The balance sheet and report showed an available balance of £3,049 2s. 6 1/2d. for the year's working, but altogether, with £184 17s. 7 1/2d., carried forward from last year, the total sum realisable was £3,234 0s. 2d., of which the directors proposed the following distribution: £1,501 17s. 6d. as dividend of 7 1/2 per cent, on the called up share capital, free of tax; £1,500 to the depreciation and reserve fund, making it £6,069 4s. 8d.; and a balance of £232 2s. 8d. to next year's account. The report showed that the number of passengers carried during the year was 933,652, and the number of miles run about 98,000. The services of Mr. Broadbent, as managing director, have again been secured for the ensuing year.

In moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet, which showed the capital of the company to stand at £20,025 (2,850 shares at £10 each, £6 10s. called up, £18,525; and 150 shares, £10 each, allotted as fully paid up, to Mr. M. Holroyd Smith, the patentee, under his agreement, £1,500).

The Chairman remarked that he had not much to say to the shareholders. The company had worked very nicely during the past year, and everything was satisfactory, both in regard to their finances, the works, and everything else connected with them. There was only one item in the balance-sheet which had increased to any appreciable extent, and that was the wages, which was mainly owing to the difficulties they had had to contend with in the accumulation of the sand on the lines at the southerly end of the town. During heavy winds - which had been most frequent during the year - the sand from the foreshore drove up the sea embankment, and literally filled the centre channel of the lines, thus making the service absolutely unworkable at times at the extreme south. That trouble was annually increasing in strength, and something would have to be done to effectually put an end to the nuisance. Referring to the difficulty that is now at issue between the company and the corporation, the Chairman asked the shareholders to stay behind at the close of the ordinary and routine business in order to discuss the matter. Some important correspondence had taken place, he said, between the contending parties with respect to the renewal or termination of the lease, but he was not at liberty personally to make it a matter of public notoriety. The Chairman concluded by moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet.

Mr. Hoyle (addressing the Chairman): Do say a few words about the prosperity of the company.

The Chairman: I think the balance-sheet is sufficient testimony as to our position.

Mr. Hoyle: Yes; but you ought to praise it up as much as you can.

The proposal to adopt the report and balance-sheet was seconded by Mr. Morris, and carried unanimously.

The next business before the meeting was the election of directors. The retiring members of the board were Messrs. Horsfall, Bickerstaffe, and Broadbent, and each offered himself for-re-election.

The re-appointment of these gentlemen was proposed by Mr. Hoyle, a gentleman interested in several of the most important of the public companies of Blackpool. At the outset he stated that he moved the re-election of the gentlemen in question, as he thought they could not be improved upon. They were now well versed in electricity, and all matters appertaining to the working of the company, and he thought it would be an unwise policy to displace them with men not so competent to deal with their affairs. They had all had to learn something or other about electricity, and there was nothing like being without dividend to make them learn. He acquired all his knowledge about the science in the year they paid no dividend, and a great many of them began to study it at the same time. It was now taught, however, in many of their schools, and their streets, houses, and shops were beginning to be lighted by means of the brilliant illuminant. He could not refrain from referring to the question of the lease. He saw from the Bill which the corporation were promoting in the ensuing session of Parliament that that body were seeking to obtain, amongst other things, any powers which might be deemed expedient to enable them to take over the works of the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company, Limited. He thought, however, that the corporation had powers enough - it had been a one-sided bargain right from the very first, and he fancied that they would all be unanimous in opposing the granting of further powers to the corporation in any shape or form. Two deputations had waited upon similar representatives from the corporation with regard to the widening of one of the piers with which he was connected, and when everything appeared to be settled the corporation stepped in, and all was unsettled. That corporation seemed to him to consist of a sort of "brotherly love" - a secret society - and "the brotherly love" lot went up to London and threw away from £600 to £700 iu needless expense, and they would do the same thing again with the Electric Tramway Company if they did not mind.

Mr. Barcroft seconded the motion, which was then carried.

The Chairman thanked the shareholders on behalf of himself and his colleagues for the confidence they had reposed in them, and at the same time expressed their thanks to Mr. Hoyle for the words of advice and caution he had given utterance to.

Mr. J. D. Taylor, of Halifax, was the retiring auditor, but he was re-elected on the proposition of the Chairman, seconded by Mr. Hoyle.

This concluded the business open to the Press, the shareholders remaining behind to discuss the matter privately, as mentioned above.

From the book "The Golden Age of Tramways"
Charles Frederick Klapper, 1961

A most interesting experiment took place in Bradford in April, May and June, 1892, with an electric car of remarkable design which ran successfully in public service for a month from May 16. Alas, it cost at least 10 3/4d. a mile to run and receipts were about 11d., so that it was not perpetuated, although the high running cost was due only to high costs in generating current at 305 volts. Many features of this car were hailed again as new, years later. The experiment was, like that eight years before at Blackpool, directed by Michael Holroyd Smith of Halifax, but the 6 1/2-ton 36-seat car, built by Lancaster Carriage and Wagon, had a truck built by Easton and Anderson, Limited, Erith, and incorporated motors and worm gears designed by Anthony Reckenzaun, who had already proved his skill on battery cars. The route from Forster Square to Piper's Grave included a 35-ft.-radius curve on a gradient of 1 in 13 1/2 from Cheapside to Kirkgate; in Cheapside the bank eased to 1 in 14 1/2 and along Manor Row it was 1 in 90. The whole course was 660 yards and it gave steam cars a trouncing on several occasions.

Current was collected by a fixed head trolley. Control was through resistances and what were virtually four motors, totalling 28.5 h.p., arranged for all four to be connected in series for starting, two pairs in series for half speed, and all four in parallel for full speed. Each of the two motors had one pair of field magnets and two armatures, giving an independent drive to each wheel to reduce flange friction on curves. Two wheels were keyed to the axles, and two to sleeves which could revolve independently. Reckenzaun provided triple-thread worms on the end of each armature shaft togive a gear ratio of 11 to 1 and yet, through the long pitch, to enable free running with power shut off. The car took 70 amp. when climbing Cheapside. There was a Holroyd Smith slipper brake as well as regeneration to control descent. Major-General Hutchinson and Major Cardew, Board of Trade Inspectors, in fact played safe and insisted on the slipper brake. It was a pity this advanced scheme did not develop.

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Nice pic of Holroyds' cars running in Blackpool in the late 1890s:

Blackpool_c1895.jpg.jpg (111.8 KiB) Viewed 1187 times

Sadly, in 1899 the Blackpool conduit system was replaced by overhead wires...

Blackpool_1960.jpg (40.56 KiB) Viewed 1187 times

But the folks in Blackpool have been loving their electric tram cars EVer since.

Blackpool_1905.jpg (91.65 KiB) Viewed 1187 times

This one's pretty cute:

Blackpool_boat.jpg (67.08 KiB) Viewed 1187 times

In the early 1900s things didn't go so well for Holroyd...

This news from 1886 mentioned earlier:
The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
November 12, 1886.

The Blackpool Tramway. - A party consisting of Mr. T. Shaw, M.P., Colonel Maude, V.C., C.B., Mr. W. Ward, and others, visited Blackpool a few days ago with the view of ascertaining the prospects of a company which it is proposed to form to acquire and develop Mr. Holroyd Smith's English patents.

and

The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review
December 17, 1886.

NEW COMPANIES REGISTERED.
Electric Tramways Construction and Maintenance Company, Limited. - Capital £250,000 in £1 shares. Object: To acquire the letters patent granted to Michael Holroyd Smith, of Halifax, consulting and mechanical engineer, for improvements in tramways and railways and for the use of electricity as a motive power for tramcars. Signatories (with one share each) :- M. Holroyd Smith, Warley, near Halifax; A. F. Jennings, 3, Cheverton Road, Hornsey Lane; F. R. Wright, 115, Gresham House, E.C.; F. G. Summers, 21, Landcroft Road, East Dulwich; W. H. Handley, 5, Cambridge Terrace, West Green, N.; A. Kingsbury, Earlsfield Road, S.W.; F. H. W. Power, 56, Great Russell Street, W.C. The first directors are - A. J. Lambert. A. S. Bolton, G. F. Fry, Colonel Francis Cornwallis Maude, V.C., C.B., Thos. Shaw, M.P., and William Ward; qualification, £250 in shares or stock; remuneration, £500 per annum, with an additional £200 for each 1 per cent. of dividend above 10 per cent. per annum. Registered 8th inst. by Wilkins, Blyth & Co., 112, Gresham House.

In 1899 the Electric Tramways Construction and Maintenance Company, Limited had been taken over by Henry (Harry) John Lawson...

Harry Lawson was an amazing guy. He is credited as the inventor of the "safety" bicycle in 1876:

Lawson_1876.jpg (125.86 KiB) Viewed 1187 times

Actually, that bike didn't sell so well, but things were much improved by 1879:

Lawson_1879.jpg (42.82 KiB) Viewed 1187 times

... and his improved safety bicycle set the pattern for the pedal bicycle for the next hundred years, until the world changed to electric bicycles early in the 21st century. (hehe)

Most biographies of Harry note him also as a leading light in the early days of the British motor car industry. Instrumental in getting the "Red Flag" laws revoked and organizing the 1896 Emanicipation Run from London to Brighton.

In 1900 a stock promoter named Ernest Terah Hooley got involved too, at the time an undischarged bankrupt, and described as a serial fraudster:
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/E._T._Hooley

And between Hooley making dubious stock sales and Lawson making extravagant claims about the Companies profits and playing fast and loose with corporate monies, in 1904 Hooley and Lawson ended up in court charged with fraud.

The full text of the trial is available online:
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?div=t19041114-51

The trial went on for several weeks. And in the end Hooley went free (!) and Lawson was sentenced to twelve months' hard labour (!!)

Beyond the dealings of Hooley, the trial transcript details the inner workings of tramway companies at the time. How they were financed and promoted, etc. Holroyd and his patents are mentioned quite a few times, although there was never any suggestion that he might have been involved in any of the questionable stock dealings.

Pretty sure Harry got a raw deal there, despite what the damn accountants had to say about his books and financial maneuverings...


The Electrical Engineer
January 27, 1905

"Mr.M. Holroyd Smith has been appointed chief assistant in the mechanical engineering department of the (Northampton) Institute."

(today the Northampton Institute is the City University London.)


Eventually Holroyd retired to Wales. He died at his home, Maenan Hall, Llanwrst, North Wales in 1932.

Should also mention about Holroyd that in 1898 he proposed to the London City Council that they employ traffic circles at intersections to relieve traffic congestion, so Holroyd was also the first to conceive of "round-abouts"!

Some vids about the Blackpool trams:

Perpetual Motion: The History of The Blackpool Trams (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypj3fYoGQj8

Fastfwd. to 06:40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ypj3fYoGQj8#t=401s

125th Anniversary of Blackpool Tramway - Historic Tram Cavalcade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYMXlG2eABQ


Earliest surviving film of Blackpool? - Aug 1898-June 1899
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JH_2AWktcg


Blackpool Victoria Pier (1904).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqRF8fmK_Cw


...and the Bradford trams from 1902:
Electric Tram Rides from Forster Square, Bradford (1902)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hyh58ngpIs

[thewmatusmoloki]

Blackpool_c1895_jpg.jpg (111.8 KiB) Viewed 1174 times

Well, that pic just blew me away.
I was last in Blackpool in 1970, apart from the non-sealed road and type of road vehicals, it looked pretty much the same !!!!


I think we stayed at that Bed & Breakfast in the middle of the picture.

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Pinkbike just posted pics from the 2012 North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Sacramento CA:
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/North-American-Handmade-Bicycle-Show-2012.html

Including this:

One of the show highlights was this 1888 replica of a Whippet, welded up by Paul Brodie. It's pretty damn amazing seeing the primordial soup that full suspension mountain biking emerged from, especially when so exactingly executed by as legendary a frame builder as Paul Brodie, even down to the solid rubber tires.

Everything on this bike was period perfect, including this block chain and crank

A sprung saddle was just one suspension element on this bike. The seven point suspension frame was originally designed to take the edge off the unforgiving nature of cobble stone roads meeting up with the solid rubber tires.

Another linkage in the design originally engineered by C.M. Linley and J. Biggs of London, England. The key to the design was the rigid front triangle that allowed the bike's suspension to move independently of the rider.

Another linkage.

There was no front brake on this replica bike--just a yabba dabba do style of friction brake for the rear tire. Evidently it doesn't stop so well in the wet...

Radial lacing on the rear hub.

From the Official Catalogue of Exhibits for the Centennial International Exhibition in Melbourne, 1888:

Whippet_1888.jpg (55.69 KiB) Viewed 1134 times

From The Indispensible bicyclist's handbook by Henry Sturmey, 1887:

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The Whippet Spring Frame. - This also in general features partakes more of the cross type than any other variety. Several points of novelty exist, which may be noted as follows :- The backbone and sloping forks to the front wheel form a rigid connection between the two wheels in the usual manner. The cross tube, however, is supported at the bottom by a strong coiled spring, much in the same way as the last, whilst the top end is held up by a link attached to the backbone just in front of the attachment of the before-mentioned spring. A stout tube joins the top of the cross tube to the top of the handle-post, which is connected with the head of the steering forks by a triple-jointed pair of links, which allow several inches play before the lower end of the handle-bar and upper end of the forks could be brought together. The result of this arrangement is that, not only is a certain portion of the vibration removed, but the whole body - seat, pedals and handle-bars - are supported upon springs, and while so supported are rigid with each other, so that the give of any one part does not affect its relative position with the other portions of the machine, which should, for the comfort and power of the rider, remain constant in their relation to each other. This is one of the most successful forms of spring frames, and has, indeed, given rise to the introduction of them all.

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From English Mechanic and World of Science, February 10, 1888...

EnglishMechanic_1888Feb10.jpg (72.12 KiB) Viewed 1087 times

Hehe... "No chain or circular motion of feet for me."

Wonder whatEVer happened to young Albert... well, he was 22 years old at that time...

It seems more than a coincidence that 65 miles to the north of Whitkirk, in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, the "Waddington and Sons Motor Company" were building motorized bikes, forecars and "voiturettes" from 1902 to 1906...

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This 3HP Waddington from about 1905 looks a little like James' trike from 1888:

Waddington-1905.jpg (53.32 KiB) Viewed 1087 times

...you know, except it's got those damned pedals for circular motion of the feet...

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Awesome Dutch outfit:
http://www.yesterdays.nl/

About Yesterdays

Yesterday’s is a link with the past, particularly with motorcycles from the past.
We are a straightforward organisation which aims at acquiring old motorcycles – in the broadest sense of the word – and making them available to enthusiasts of all kinds by means of sale.

After 35years of experience we claim to have an extensive knowledge of the world of antique and classic motorcycles.
Our field of interest ranges from pre-1900s machines till those from the thirties and forties.
We have regularly been able to provide- private enthusiasts, collectors, and museums all over the world with interesting acquisitions.

We cordially invite you to visit our site and step back in the illustrious past of motorcycling……….

We ship worldwide at cost

Incredible selection of old bikes... I really like these old Böhmerlands with sidecar... from 1936:

Bohmerland-1936-1.jpg (71.42 KiB) Viewed 1043 times

Yours today for only €69.500,00 plus shipping...


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