The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-08-10
RICHMOND, VA,
y AAltItlnuuf llspath.
y @EDNE'SDAY.........AUG 10, 1870.
TIE CIRCULATION OF THE DISPATCH
Is Lac GER THAN THE COMBINED CIR
CULAcfION OF ALL THE OTHER DAILY
or THE CITY.
I,atsia Rubber Motive pawer-Cars to
he Kun in Mobile by Rnbber-zss Ad.
vantages, Economy, and Lasting
propensfties-Vtde Mule.
From tlle New Orleans Republican,

Il LfcI Sltlct sITeeG EdllIOauS nave IOGlgQC
| their way against popular prejudices into
peIlse incidental to running them should
be go reduced as to render the price of tra-
vel through our streets. as low as possible.
/ The cars were intended for the people. and
not for those only of the wealthy class.
| The New Orleans proprietors of car lines
| attempted to reduce their expenses in or
| der to run their cars at a rate to permit low
fares by discharsns Conductors and adopt
ing the box system, with the driver only in
charge. Every encouragement has, in the
past, been gwen by the companies to inyent-
| ors who had any plan to offer by which the
enormous expense Of employing animal
power could be dispensed with. Steam was
| out OF. the question, and no man, however
po, ,ular he might be, could have safely re-
| Commended its use in our crowded streets.
Under the encouragement of our railroad
accompanies a number of inventors offered
ltheir plans and had them tested. Ingenuity
and skill were evidently apparent in every
fplan but, after all, the capitalists held back
and declined to invest in the Pneumonia,
the Ammonia, and the Pelical. There
Iseemed to be doubt as to their final sue
Icess, not particularly because their trial
trips might have in some particular failed,
but because it seemed probable that the
lcXpensc attending their adoption might be
lequal to the expense attending the employ
ment of the mule power.
A new and remarkably simple means of
lpropelling cars has, however, only lately
lbccn brought to their notice. Dir. Solomon
jJones, Il gentleman Of q mechanical turn of
mind, who has heretofore distinguished
himself by the invention of the most intri-
cate and remarkable descriptions OF ma
chnery, had, in his experiments, his atten-
ton called to the wonderful power possess
cd by India rubber when contracting after
having been stretched. He used it in O
number OF instances where the wear and
tear world have destroyed metal, and was
led to ',iclicve that in every instance it was
Tar F,dperior to metal in wearing qualities,
AID that it further possessed motive power
in itself. He used it as q motive power
i'll several ingenious mechanical contriv-
,ances. aud found his most sanguinc hopes
realized. His attention was then called to
lapplying his motive power to the street
cars, lie started with the idea that there
}were two requirements to be looked after
a}irst, economy in cost, and then economy in
space second, simplicity-a machine not
requiring an expert, but capable Of being
handled by the ordinary individual.
After Il long series of experiments he
discovered that the Para. rubber was capa-
bic of stretching ten feet for every one OF
its ordinary length, and that the retractile
power was enormous. He made a system
of turnings, windings, and twists, of this
rubber power which would enable him to
place it under any car without altering its
present build, and which would give him a
lpower capable of prOpclling that car
through the streets ut u rate always at the
command of the man in charge, and capa-
bic of lasting the wear and tear Of constant
service for years.
| His machinery was very sjmplo The
rubber was wound upon 4 drum, and the
drum once let loose the car commenced to
move ata speed more than could be desired
were it not tfrnt it is under perfect COM
mand from q simple system of cogs working
under a leverage power III the hands of
the conductor. Ills model was sent to
| Washington to the Patent Office, and
talthough it was not Ill he could wish, as he
was compelled to Use Il common gas-plpc
rubber in the place Of the prepared mate.
Trial he proposes to Use, it passed the rigid
scrutiny Of that office, famous for the care
and strictness of its examinations, and 4
patent was issued to him, in connection
with Mr.. Bernard Tcrhoth, one Of our we'll
known mechanics, for this new invention.
For street-cars, two bands Of rubber two
and Il half inches in diameter and fifty-siN
feet in length each will be used. Each piece
will be attached to separate drum, and as
the stretch Of the rubber will be ten feet
for one, $50 feet will be run Off the drum
before it becomes necessary TO use its fellow
Idrum. Tn running Off this $50 feet, q dis
tancc of 4,175 feet, over two miles, Will be
travcrscd by the cars {; the other drum is
then called into requlsltlon, and While 1t Is
Dropcling the car, the exhausted drum
is wound up by the same leverage which
the conductor uses to stop and con-
troll the car; the only trouble the
conductor has is to throw the lever off
the drum in motion, Il simple operation,
which can be reversed in a minute if it be-
comes necessary to stop the cars. The pre-
sent cost of running Il street railroad car is
over $4,000 4 year, independent OF the five
mules required for it, whose value must be
between six and eight or nine hundred
dollars. With the new arrangement the
cars are put III running order with the rub
Der motive power ut an expense of about
500 Il car, and have, While running, only
the $50 month to pay the driver or con-
Iductor, whatever he may be called. The
Rubber will certainly last as long as the car
will run; and the machinery it moves is
Inot calculated to wear out fast, rs there can
lbe very little friction on cog-wheelS. The
thcavy wear and tear must necessarily. rs at
present, be upon the Journals OF the aXlcs.
| The fact that the rubber will last is amply
Illustrated by the wonderful enduring pow
| efS OF the DIGSCul luUDCl usCu lol
cars. The cars may wear out, but the rub
Der springs are taken out Of the old ones
and put into the new.
| This invention is not by any means in-
tended to be confined to the propulsion of
strect-cars; it is intended to be adapted to
everything now monopolized by steam. 1t
can be made useful in the household or the
factory to run seWing-machineS, and our
citizens will soon have an opportunity of
seeing it tested working fans in one of our
churches. It's remarkable cheapness and
the economy with which it can be used
make it all the more desirable.
The Mobile city railroad companies are
preparing to accommodate their cars to the
new invention, and the death-knell Of the
mule is already sounded there, and per-
haps in few months we shall be able to
witness the astonishing spectacle OF our
own cars running the streets by India-rub-
ber power.
Tie inventor holds his patent, we under
stand, at the service of northern and west
ern railroad men, and will give them rights
at remarkably low rates. a New Orleans
inventor is not by any means an anomaly,
but our sharp and shrewd mechanics have
held themselves too closely to business
and we welcome Dir. Joncs's
enterprise rs crcditablc to the city and the
State.