NEW TRAM-CAR

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 275, 17 May 1912, Page 7

NEW TRAM-CAR

'■\V.§OP TO_JHE HOBBLE SKIRT. Rfehether the New York tramway companiesv have been influenced or not in the,.design of cars by feminine fashion, certain it is that a new type, with net formidable step, has been evolved. An .illustration iu the Scientific American for April shows a tightskirted woman entering a car with an ease which has induced her to smile suavely. The explanation is set out in the American. "A novel form of car, having passenger entrances at the centre only, has been worked out for the electric railways of New York city," it is stated. "By placing the trucks at the extreme ends of the car, a low floor at the entrance doors is provided, ten inches only between doorsill and street pavement, which is hardly greater than the rise between the treads of an ordinary house stairway. From this point the floor slopes upward very gradually towards each end. The motorman's compartment i& entirely shut off from the space occupied by passengers. The car wheels and truck frames project up into the space beneath the scats at each end of the car. The conductor's post is directly opposite the pair of centre doors, at the most advantageous point to open and close the doors and receive the fares of incoming passengers. ' The doors are automatically operated by compressed air, by a device similar to that used on the side-door subway cars of New York, which allows the door to be closed while passengers are crowding through it, yet relieves the pressure when the door is blocked by the body of a passenger and automatically applies it again when the obstruction is removed. In this manner the works its way to a safe closing through a crowd of passengers without } causing injury to any of them. If a (nan's overcoat or a woman's skirt gets caught in the door, the car cannot be started until the object is removed. It will he impossible for the car to start unless tho door is closed tight, no matter what position the controller handle is in. and it will he Impossible to open the door till the car stops. Ventilation is automatic, the air supply being controlled by a device connected to the oar 'springs to admit air in proportion to [the weight (that is. to the number) of passengers aboard the car.