TRAMWAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 316, 30 May 1913, Page 6

TRAMWAYS.

STORAGE BATTERY OR OVERHEAD SYSTEM? A COMPARISON. INTERVIEW WITH MR. LYSNAR. "Has the storage battery car proved a success in Gisborne," was the question put by a News reporter yesterday-morn-ing to Mr. W. D. Lysnar, who was Mayor of Gisborne at the time when the respective merits of tho .overhead trolley electric system and the car equipped with the Edison storage battery were keenly debated, and a decision arrived at in favor of the latter. Mr. Lysnar, who is on a brief visit to New Plymouth, answered the question in the affirmative and in support of his statement remarked that many of Gisborne's prominent citizens who were strongly opposed to the storage battery being adopted were now satisfied that the right thing had been done, "NEVER ANY DOUBT."

"Personally," Mr. Lysnar continued, "I never had any doubt as to the result of Edison's storage battery system, and came to that conclusion when I rode in the first car that was in use in New York, and had an opportunity of chatting with the inventor in his laboratory in New Jersey. Mr. Edison assured me positively that the car was entirely out' of the experimental stage, and that our Council could with' confidenoe adopt it.' He explained; to me that he had' been polking 6n J this-- fpi' eight years. Three years previously, his l invention was almost perfect, and he put a delivery van on a five thousand mile test around New Jersey, but after it had run 3000 miles he discovered a defect. It was a very slight one, but it was a defect in- the judgment of the inventor, and he would not allow it to go on the market until his invention completely satisfied him. He had tested the complete batteries by allowing them to go into delivery vans only, and a very large number were then in use in New York. I personally interviewed the heads, of one very large firm, who were using nearly one hundred of these delivery vans, and inquired of them as to their experience with these batteries. From them I got nothing but tho very highest expressions of opinion in their favour." '•BRUTALLY STRONG."

"Mr. Edison explained to me that he ha<l 'obtained the assistance of some of the ablest architects in the world to design and construct a car that gave the maximum amount of accommodation with the minimum of weight, the object being to avoid hauling perpetually any unnecessary Weight. In this way he claimed that the annual running cost and wear and tear would be greatly, reduced. They had succeeded in designing a car that had every efficiency with a minimum of weight, the weight ol the Gisborue cars being only 4»/ 2 tons, as against the weight of ordinary cars in use in the Dominion, from 12 to 18 tons. Then as regards the machinery part, Mr. Edison claimed that there was absolutely nothing that could go wrong, and to use his Qwn words, he said, 'They were designed brutally strong,' and he undertook to say that in twenty years' time, the motor would be as good as it was the day it went out of the shop. I questioned Mr. Edison as to spare parts, and he said there was no need for spare parts in connection with the machinery. The only thing that could possibly go wrong was the chain gear giving out, in which case it would be necessary for the motorman to carry spare link's. The whole position can be best gauged from the fact that Mr. Edison was prepared to give a guarantee that the battery would do Sfl.p.er cent of the work he said it would do for the first three years, and if the positive plate of the battery was then removed, and he undertook to replace it at half its original cost, he would guarantee that it would continue to do 00 per cent, of its work for another three years. I suggest that Edison s guarantee is good enough for any corporation in this Dominion. He has 10,000 hands working for him, and it is

estimated that there are 3,000,000 people to-day working on his patents in various parts of the world, and a guarantee given by a man with such a record need not be questioned." THE CRUX OF THE QUESTION.

"It has been stated," said the interviewer, "that the Gisborne cars are costing the city about £4O a week. Does the experience of the Gisborne Borough Council bear out the claims of Mr. Edison for this storage battery?" Mr. Lysnar replied that he attached little importance to the working expenses of the Gisborne tramway system. "In Gisborne," lie continued, "the system is not running to anything like 'full advantage, as only one out of seven miles of track is fully completed. This mile of track runs through the business area of the town; and is certainly the most trying traffic for testing purposes, while 'it is not generally regarded as the most profitable. There are only two cars running, but they are earning from about ±ll to £l7 a day. To judge the Edison storage battery car by the working expenses of Gisborne is quite unfafr to the car, and is no grounds for a comparison. At Gisborne we proved Mr. Edison's figures to be reliable, for we ran a car 85 miles without stopping, just as he said we could. Then again, with reference to the consumption of power, we are running our new cars some 70 miles a day each. Taking electricity at •M per cent, Edison's data showed that to run a car 70 miles would cost about Jj>«. and it had been officially stated that even under the existing circumstances, the two ears are" each costing under £1 per day to run. I had a comparative statement made, showing the difference in the cost of running the . .hristchurch over-head trolley cars and the cost of running Edison storage battery cars. Allowing that electricity cost "d a unit the figures showed that the actual cost of running the Christchurch car was 5,1 a car mile, but Edison's figures worked out at 2%d per car mile, liiat is the actual consumption of electnc power, and is after all the crux of the whole question. So far as-working expenses are concerned, I may point out that one town may run its curs extravagantly, while another town may run its system economically." "THE INITIAL COST."

• Mr. Lysnar was then asked whether the. increased cost of installing the overhead system was compensated for by the increased price of the storage battery ear. He stated that he attached little importance to the initial cost, which was a non-recurring item, but, according to Mr Edison, 35 to 40 per cent, of the initial cost of construction would be savedl in avoiding the overhead system and the necessity of bonding the'rails, lhen there was the fact that these new Juhsoircars only weighed about 4'/, tons a* against the twelve to eighteen tons' ot the overhead trolley car. Consequently tea> w.tl, the trolley as compared to the Mison car. In New York the Edison ear cos i 200 or £I3OO, but when a 3u per cent, duty and freight charges, etc £2OOO. lo this had to be added the cost of assembling the parts.

OTHER POINTS. Two other points were mentioned bv Mi. LyHiitr. One was that it mattered little whether the cars had to run on steep grades or level tracks, as that was oniy a question of strengthening the batteries, ft | l(!re a tro „ ( .. u . w " ouM Edison guaranteed this storage car could