Mower County transcript., 1869-12-30
Running Street Cars with Tanks OF
Compressed Air.

company organized IN New Orleans to
utilize several inventions which Mr.. Wha-
ley has devised for tue application of con-
densed air as a motive power for cars on
city railroads, is soon about to bring the
design to tes|.
In company with parties interested in
the improvement, we visited the foundry
CT Captain T. Roberts, at the corner of ,Ju-
liza street and the levee, where the appa-
ratus is being constructed. Captain Rob-
erts explained the plan of the apparatus
The idea is that each car shall have two
cylinders, or tanks, to contain the fresh
air, which is to be used as motor. These
cylinders are to be on the top OF the cars,
ana are to be charged at the depot. by an
| engine worked with steam. Metallic CYL
ipders were first tried, but they were found
to be too heavy, and the difficulty of the
! company has been to find q lighter mate
rial, available for the purpose. Paper cyl
| intlers have been determined upon, and
Captain Rogers is engaged in making four,
to be used on the cars, two on each. They
ale made of strong sheets Of paper, lemin-
alcd to thickness sufficient to bear the
great pressure required to contain the air
condensed into steam. The several lamina
are adhered with glue, and the paper fab
ric is strengthened with an envelope of cor
dage. In connection with these cylinders
there is to be an engine, Tor which special
patent has been taken out, and which is
otherwise valuable in its applicability to
steam machinery: to receive the condensed
air and rotate the wheels of the Car.
| One OF the cylinders WAS finished. It has
been subjected to trial of 300 pounds to
the square inch, aud had not yielded.
Three hundred pounds to the square inch,
| he observed. would suffice as motor. He
| had, with platform car, experimental on
| street railroad with far less power than
that, and the experiment resulted satisfac-
torily. He used two old iron cylinders,
weighing sixteen hundred pounds, which
leaked through the riveting, and there
| were tWenty-eight persons on the car.
| Starting with but ninety pounds of pres
sure to the square inch, and with the
! weight of cylinders and men mentioned,
he made three miles and half in seven
minutes and fifteen seconds. And as to
curves, when the motor was reduced to
fifteen pounds, to use Captain Roberts cwn
words, he went around the street corner
''as smoothly as ball would roll on bill
lard table,
Dividing the whole expenses of the city
! railroad companies of New Orleans, accord
ing to the number of cars used by each,
the lowest current outlay of any of the
companies is from IS to So, so per car each
day, and the highest from 80 to $40. The
greater part OF these expenses are incurred
in the wearing out of mules, feeding mules,
five of which are required for each car, and
paying hands in the stables. The other ex-
penses consist of the salaries of officers and
the wages Of drivers, which are but q small
mod!cum of the sum total, If those pos
srssinG the patent charge half n dollar a
car for the royalty the expenses Of no COM
pany will average over S3 per day car.
Therefore, take as an example the City
Railroad Company, the capital stock of
which is S1,OOO,OUO, and which runs ITO
cars, there will be with that company
saving Of Sc Il car every day, total of
SG6O a day, and for year, S241, EGO, or "a
per cent upon the capital stock.
This is giving the Pneumatic company
royalty Of SlS2 so a year on each Car. 1t
is computed that there are 10000 cars in
towns of the United States. If the appa-
rutus proves available, and tho right OF u.s.
ing it is sought by all, the patentees will
have an annual income of S7,2S0, 600.
\ NEW APPARATUS for saving the ship.
wrecked has been invented in Germany.
The North German Correspondent de.
scribes it: For the first experiments
oue-pound gun was used, which single
man was able to move and direct. The
prrjcctilc weighs about twenty pounds, and
by means of it a line may be thrown one
Thousand feet. A light tour-pounder gun
will cast the line about two thousand feet,
and Il six FOUNDER from two thousand five
hundred to three thousand feet. Two
kinds OF projectiles are employed, ono for
stations on tho coast, by which line may |
be cast to ships i'll distress, while TIE 9th |
er is intended for tho vessels themselves. !
When it strikes it forms an anchor, SO that |
a. connection may be established with the |
land without any assistance from the shore. |
The apparatus is said to be much cheaper |
than the rockets now in use.
DEEP SEA DRED;1NGs. One of the most |
interesting results Of the recent dredging |
of the sea bottom, near the coast of Eng !
land, prosecuted under the direction OF |
certain eminent naturalists, and in vessel |
furnished by the British government, was
the discovery that fine chalk is now steadi- |
ly and continuously forming Mt the bottom
Of the ocean, and that it belongs strictly to |
the cretaceous epoch Of terrestrial geology. |
An inmate Of the St. Louis Insane |
Asylum offers to cement the Union OF these |
States by what he calls national marriage. |
That is. he will marry widow or orphan |
from each of the States to he salectal nv