Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-01-08
4 WIRE RAILWAY
Description of a Novel Method or
 Freighting Now in Use in England

60 A railway without cutting en- bankments, tunnels, viaducts or bridges, no matter how hilly the country 10 be traversed." Such IS the definition given by Herapath's Journal ot an invention now in use in Leices- tersbire. The wire tramway provides simple and cheap substitute Tor line of rails, and is of great service, where, from the scarcity of or inter mittent character of traffic, or the en- cheering difficulties of the ground to be got over. it Is either not eXpedlent or possible to go through the expen- sive process of forming local rail- way. For the wire spans over and evades obstacles in place of burrew- ing under or leyeling them, and will perform it's task as easily along rugged tract of country as on the smOothest road. The experiment be- ing now prosecuted with complete success between some Leicestershlre stone uuarrles and railway station three miles distant consists of an end less wire rope, supported on a series of pulleys carried by substantial posts winch are ordinarily sbOut one hun dred and fifty feet GpG-t but the ln- terval between Ehl-> may be greatly extended, as is known in one case where the span from post to post Is six hundred feet. One of the ends of this rope passes around Powders clip drum, worked by Q portable steam engine, and this drives the rope at the rate Of six miles an hour. Boxes are hung On the rope at the loading end near the quarries by pendant which is ingeniously arranged by pre- serve a perfect equilibrium, and at the same time to pass without hin drance over the supports. Each Of these boxes carries one hundred weight of stone, and the delivery is at the rate of two hundred boxes, CT ten tons per hour tO the three-mile dis iance.
 Already wire tramUays on the Lei cester model are in course of con structiOn in France, Italy and Spain. Negotiations are on foot between tho Turkish Government and the engin-- eers here, and it is not improbable that this generation may see goods carried by wire us commonly as mes sages. The tramway Is, indeed, not unlike an exceedingly stout tele- graph; and there is something almost droll ID the sight of a regiment of we'll laden trucks or boxes passing grsvely along it at stated intervals, and at a regular pace, much as if they were at arial drill. The most important point about Hodgson's invention is his method of passing the place of support, which consists in SO curving the frame or box as to make the center of gravity come under the rope. So admirably is this managed that some of our leading engineers have been discussing quite recently the pOssibil- ity of constructing stout wire tram way between Dover and Calais, which should be supported by lIne of pill lar. sunk in mid-oCean, and along which passengers could be conveyed The cost would be comparatively small, and suspensOry trains could, it is argued, be dispatched across the channel without difficulty or danger.
 IL should be stated that where heavy loads must necessarily 5e carried, a pair of stationary supporting ropes, with an endless running rope for the motive power, are employed, and that by these means as many as a thousand tons per day can be easily conveyed. The cost of erecting these tramways in England, and o. supply ing motive power and rolling stock, is from e250 q mile for carrying fifty tons a day, in boxes holding half hundred weight each, to $500 8 mile for one of the double rope lines, tO carry one thousand tons per day, in boxes or trucks holding six hundred weight each. For districts where there is traffic, but where it would not pay to construct railroad, the wire tram way Is particularly applicable, and, as will be readily understood, wherever there i5 standing room for pests, there a line can be erected. A recent appli- cation from traders in copper for put ting one up for them which should run through an African forest and over an African jungle down the coast illustrates the varied circumstances under which the new system of trans port may be applied.