NEW METHOD OF TRANSIT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 56, 27 July 1914, Page 7

NEW METHOD OF TRANSIT.

TIU'vEK iiuxui;j:i) miles an hour. * 1 The extraordinary invention of a French scientist, M. finite JJa.liclot, ! which, it is elaimcd, will revolutionise , hig-li. speed traction the world, is described by a writer in the Standard, who witnessed the working of a HKXlel recently. By the new system, it is asserted, a speed of .'iOO miles an ' hour can be easily attained. "A rail-1 ' v.-av that runs on the road-bed of in- j' visible im]m'.bcs'' is the description an- ' plied to it by its inventor. The model, ; erected on four trestles, consists of two pairs of rails—one to demonstrate the j use of the railway for mail or merchandise, and the other for passengers. A steel cylinder in the one case and 1 ft cigar-shaped carriage in the other rests < on each pair of rais, which are grooved ; above, and between the rails runs a single-grooved mil in which rests a pair of guider-. An electric current is switched on and the miniature machine rises an eight of an inch oil' the mils and rushes through the; air at a tremendous pace until the current is i switched off, when the carriage comes to instant rc-t. At regular intervals the rails are spanned by a solenoid, or electro-pulling mngnet. and along each side of the track is arranged a series of levitation coil? 1 or bobbins on which. I

when stationary, the vehicles rest. It ie in these levitation < oils and the solenoids that the secret of the invention consists. M. l'achelct feis, lie claims, succeeded, after years of experiment, in lifting steel resting on :i basis of aluminium,* while brushes running in the grooved rails serve to pick' up the electric current. The. solenoid*, which in the large size are to be' erected at an interval of every 25 feet, | attract the steel-wrought vehicles whic'b I arc thus drawn to the magnetic arches, shoot through by their own impetus, and thus come within the attraction of the next glenoid. The amazing part of the whole tiling is that while in progress the vehicles are actually flying ■ unsupported through the air. The estimated cost W put at a surprisingly low figure. M. "I'achclet reckoning it out at 'Ad per |H>mid of merchandise for 300 miles, or an hour's journey, ft is further proposed to adapt the system for the conveyance of passengers, which can fie carried out, it is claimed, with perfect <afelv and at lightning speed. At this rate the London-Liver-pool journey could be accomplished in 45 minutes.' while 1 hour 15 minutes would convey the traveller from London to Glasgow,'and 10 hours would suffice to make a trip from Paris to St. Petersburg.