Electric Motor Cars.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 229, 19 November 1887, Page 2

Electric Motor Cars.

The lesult ot the trial made in Philadelphia on Wedne-day of a motor built by the Whui-ton Company, and driven by .stored electricity, seems to have convinced some of the stockholder and directors of our Citizens' Passenger "Railway Company that the time i* approaching v^hen electricity and the mechanical appliances used in connection with it will be foui.d an efficient substitute for hor&es. The practicability of converting the cars in use into electric motors will tend to iacilitate this change. The terrible waste of horseflesh, apoi't from the cos^ °^ ie serv^ ce otherwise, is an additional v eason why some mechanical system of tractile iri desirable. It is a knowledge of this face thafc hftS kd io the desire,, on the part of maiW 1 ' 8 of horse railways themselves, to find ."omo other nwjhod of propulsion. Several methods wavebeen demised to meet tills want. 3t6£12Z%coinpressed air, mechanical spi-ings, cables and electricity have all been tried. Of these different motors only cables and electricity have been tried with any measure of success. The cheapness of the cable system, which is said to be 30 per cent, less than that of horses, has recommended its use in some of our cities. But it has oiie defect which, being inherent in the system, it is impossible to overcome. All the cars are put in motion by the same line of cable, and if any mishap or break occurs at any one point along the line of route all the cars are brought to a stand -still until the obstruction is removed or the cable is repaired. There are other minor defects, such as the fraying of the cable and the failure at times of thegrip, but these are more easily remedied. The same difficulty appertains to the direct employment of electricity. There, also, the movement of the care is dependent on one source of power. Whei* that fails from any cause every car on the line is stopped until a duplicate power, if there should happen to be one, transmits a fresh relay of electricity to the third rail between the tracks or to the conduit beneath it. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the moving of street cars by electricity derived directly from the dynamo at the central station has been gaining ground. " Five years ago," according to an* account we have before us, " there was not a practical working railway of this sort in the country." Now, we are told, " more than three million and a half of passengers are carried every year in this country on streefccars propelled by electricity." About a dozen roads are said to be in operation, and as many under contract. But after all, it is very generally admitted that traction by cable and direct electricity are simply makeshifts. AY hen onco constructed it is claimed that they are cheaper to operate than horse-power by one-third. But they are defective as we have shown, in this that they are both dependent on one source of power, and all the cars must move together at intervals along the line or they cannot move at all. In the Waton motor the power is derived from electricity stored in secondary batteries placed beneath the cars. Each car, therefore, has its motivepower within itself, is consequently independent of any other car, and if an accidents should happen to it can be shifted' from the track without affecting the, movement of the other cars on the line. It is claimed that the system and appliances have been nearly perfected. We know nothing of this beyond the fact that the trial on Wednesday is said t6 have been satisfactory, and that the President . of the Citizens' line contemplates the adoption of the new motor if convinced ,that the co3t of operating it w ill comparo favourably with that of hoi'sc-power.— " Baltirnoro~Sun, J>