, 1881-07-13
WIRE RAILWAYS.
History Of Their inception and De.
velopmeiit.
The First Secret Trial by Moon
light.
Slow Perfection Of a Valuable fhsention-lints So,Y
Duilt-cablt Roads IN chlnso md Paris.

co,ivcrsins With friend. a strect-cnr Ut the
Omnibus i.lhe, which then c1l nf,ed the sotle-
what steep gr,sttn from Dupont 10 Stockton,
nll jackson, was seen approaching. drawn by
five horses. Ono OF the horses Slipped ani
fell, n vain effort was ina1e 10 raise him, and
n mild pa,Ilc enstetl as the ileay1y.latlun chr
slid back to Dupont street, dragging the pros
trhte llorsc. 10th gentlemen looked OH with
concern. Tlla Que, q sUnl0r member OF II we'll
known llt'tographlc firm, said. |Iatf 1npa.
tEenlly 10 tho other: Why don't yo,l ~ to
work and Invent something to pull strcct-cnrs
safely up steep grades, and prevent si.ch ac-
ctdents"" Ills companion replied, thought
fully, TINT he Ind bcen studying on some
thing of the sort for year past. 1Ie
concluded to renew his experiments.
III 1870 no obtninea patent Oh a
grip pulley madc for transmitting
power from the engine 10 II rope, to
prevent slipping. Tl,e principles he Ind nj .
rcady firmly fixed III Ills mind, for lie had
paccsi something of the kind IN operation III
tic mines for the transportation Of orcs, but
the application Of tic sar,n principle 10 q
railway OH tho public streets Of II city pre-
scnted many obstacles all!i difficulties. It
WIS necessary to have Q railway 80 arranged
m to afford no obstruction 10 ordinary travel.
The cars must be capable OF bctnK Instantly
st0pped ut any point. Tile grades would By
varying, at,d the rope must le SO arranged
tint 1t could he kept down aflu not ily lip I'LL
expectctlly nto the air. The difficulties werc
finally OvereO,llet anil IN 1871 TIC INVENTOR
Andrew =. 1tallf1fe, induced yDsepl, l3rlttom,
hlrn il, Ills Undertaking to put Ills invention
into practical operatlQn.. LIT orter to secure
creetly Kept their sclietne q secret. but one
day It was 1lynlEed fl confidence to an tit.
An ~ SSnn fnr tts a1t,f1
the information by telegr!ph to lis
paper, iii which It nppearetl tho following
day.. It was probably, duo 10 this untitlIely
publication that = swiftly Organized company
the right to run street ratlr0ad up Russian
Hill, MI indenlt sort 0f a permit, With n
winding route, but Which sufcell 10 check
tho progress Of tho wirc-rope co.npany.
Greet, md concluded to await developments.
Dnt The new company t[td nothing; nftcr u
willis they invited A1r. 1lallItllc, to codIerate
witt, them. This ls refused to 10, md In
tet which composetl the wirc-ropo company:
! They went speetIily to work. mid completed
o truck from kenrllcy to Jones street: The
power, stationary engine, was located then,
as no At "se stree A. n,y eHss ts
surface Of the ground, betweel, tho tracks Of
q. railroad. md kept IN position ly neans OF
slteaycs. Tho principle wns st' simple that .
child could understand 1t. Inlagtng MI end
III revolution did i is evident hit til, two
sldes must always be moving III oppostt III.
recttons. On tlla ROAD 1t was tho satae, save
TINT ono end Of the .cnblo passed over n
fn tic enKlnc-!loHse. Exactly nboYo tic
chnnne1 Of the cable, along tho railway Is n
narrow slit, through which the stout grip"
Of tho dummy tightly grasped tl,p rope, and,
n1nnu fhN trnn1{ 4 Hnrkfnr modal nf th1
systenl lad long BEEN exhibited it, the otllce
be snrlnlsed that sitc]i ~ ttinoyation was not
e"yd ths yisisnE M "f pIIe indse ss't sad a
lSstce, the lawyer, to n Chronicle reporter q
of ti il ISi anSd ascd to Seep it % ltte Sso1a
Spsg Sa g I'll, q Mea aT Gfs Fsck It sat il m
the gr,.des, tho cable. IN operation, anu dnn,.
niles sliding up unl down, but wien wo
! Iskcd my ore ~ to SEQ 1t assure YOU It WIS
II rathar, he, :. u 81 sll9melaeed WY. Everybody
most progressive and ltlerat.spiritetl men III
| the city, Irving NJ. Scott AinonE tie others,
looked at It with nnusGd curiosity 9nd won't
oft laughing. '"ro tell the truth" with q
iMad M 1T /! u m,ie!' isiti, In # Myselt.''
About y o'clock on tho morning Of the 1st
OF August, 1s73, Wlltls nearly all tho City.
was sleeping, liitle party Vt eager, excited
tllEtl SHtAGlb4A III DltN III AtAS StkEE% HAli4
where the street plunges down the steep hi,
! ctlne from Jones to kearny, Tha descent
fr0nl Jones to Kenrny Is ao7 fcet, and tho dis
lance nbont 1900 feet. FROM Jones to Tay-
c e aysfy s;ssGSt M Mpsaf s " srGSs SsenoF ss s S
cnln, md confident, hts friends extremely
tiMoro,ls and Bkepttcal. The heduriny, a mere
skeleton aiEatr, With four. wheels Of about
e,n.al .size was tlttyl With sSnlc5c.,!'ar !E '
Safcty;ropcs wcro attacked (boing fastened
around telegrnpll-poIe), mid 1t Wns low.
cred down little distance and then brought
back. !lesites tie complete system. VI
wery attached to tic wheels, inlprOvissd IS
additional checkers o.. any undue velocity
which the car might .nssuined on Its down
ward progress. 1icwitt. ~ old LOCOMOTIVES
dummy down, but when lie looked down tha
torriblo descent into tho gulf at darkness
besow, ie turned pnlet .tre'nblcd. ulll saltl to
Mr.: llallilia:, ~ Iti.!nk. ,parllaps, you had
teos s lis II aeS ae It de nSS III lis renas sae IT,
o'ie IN Charge Of EACH wheel, ln great treplda;
tlon lest the thing should ."get away and kill
somebody" took thalr places, and to thu
sapGys saey Ct e OF os}s'S e ae Of " s 5e ssa
day tho tlrst trip with n car nttaohed was es-
sayet!: The crowd along tho track, and Is.
pocla!ly ~ the lower terminus, Mas 30 large
ns = s tt no g5sa.est, icnlty ,, nny
tho anticipated terEors were realized, people
wcro yeEy umla about trusting themselves
upon the cars. And it Is a langllabla recol:
lection now with many who travel back Rlld
forth OIL tho wlrn r0at,s daily, that In order to
assure sufficient patronage 10 the road 1t was
found necessary to glvb tic pnblfv lree rides
for Two days. For somo time 1t was iMpos-
Sih!o to rlitl tho cars regularly or after dark.
| The dummy was All ulltutncd Htee4 and
would jump the truck and kick up III tho air,
n very unpleasant feat for the passengers.
On the tlrat day It stopped halfway up tho
track, for the gripping Al!ey In the engine
j!9use slipped and the rop0 became stationary.
Al! the night was Usually spent III repairing
tho damages aud brcakaRps of tho day. The
chief trouble seemed to ba In the dummy,
mud In September two IleW. dummies were
constructed with llg wheels III front and lit.
proved bicycles. THESE du1nMlcs llNd un iii.
c0lnfortab le, habit of rearing up In front,
Jumping tno truck, and breaking tho grip.
III December 1878, several moro were con.
structad, with wheels OF a uniform aze md
close together, tha frout alld back wheels
being only eight, or ten inches apart From
January to October, 1911, new dummies
wor0 constructed, q slight Improvement over
tho former, but 1t was still necessary to tnkC
| on plK-lea1 for ballast to keep tho dummy
down. 1t WAS not until 1875 tllat tho inYen'
ton was perfected and tie present dummies,
/ 4G1 nf In r1.1 In md ban