The Osceola times., 1882-04-22
EDIsON'S MOTOR.
A Lively Ride on His Electric Road at
Menlo Park.
New York Tribune.

New York Tribune
The bed of Edison. Electric rail way
at Nenlo Park, is as yet unballasted, SO
that ride over its two miles of length
is productive of unpleasant Jerks and
bumps. From the building next to the
workshop at Menlo Park, where the
steam engine and dynamo-electric ma
chimes are placed, narrow plank walk
leads across the field toward the woods
in the rear. In this are the wires run.
ming from the dynamo-electric machines
to the railway track. distant perhaps q
quarter of mile. Here the wires are
noticeable, emerging from the casing and
communicating with the rails. At first
sight the track appears to differ from an
ordinary railroad only in its gauge which
which is three feet six inches. But a
closer examination reveals three dis
tinctive features. Where two rails meet
they are joined together on the sides
On each side of the joint is a strip Of
copper, the ends Of which are nickel
plated. Outside these strips are screwed
on flat bars of iron. Thus the current
OF electricity passes uninterruptedly from
rail 10 rail. As this can sot be done at
copper are placed underneath the ends
Of both rails, so that the circuit is not
broken. The frog in the switches is left
out Of circuit. 1t is only about three
feet long, and as the driving wheel OF
the engine is four and halt feet in
diameter the wheel passes over the frog
with no perceptible interruption. Near
the improvised engine house, which
stands short distance above the point
where the wires connect with the rails,
and about quarter of mile from that
end of the track, the one passenger car
of the railway stood Friday. The engine
was running up and down the track,
conveying Charles I. Hughes, the super
intendent, and dragging small platform
car loaded with rails and ties. In ap-
pearance the engine is peculiar. If an
ordinary eneine were cut in two midway
of the boiler, the forward half discarded
and the cab reduced ia size, it would
present a tolerably correct representa-
ton Of the electric engine. | & length
is fifteen feet and its height to the cab
nine feet. OF course there is no smoke
stack.
When Tribune reporter took seat
in the cab the flat car had been lett at
the lower end of the track. Mr.. Hughes
raised the lever of the armature switch
and the engine started. The engine ran
evenly at the rate of eighteen miles an
hour. No arrangement had been made
for running at high speed, as Mr. Hughes
was using the engine simply in construc-
tion work, and it had been dragging
loads of three or four tons. The four
dynamo electric machines at the central
station were arranged in a multiple arc
instead of in series, as is done to attain
higher speed. Two miles of the road
have been completed, extending toward
Plainfield, and mile remains TO be
finished At the lower end men were
engaged in ballasting the track. Tie
road runs from the engiDe-house over a
trestle twelve feet high, through a
swamp, and then through some fields
where there ale cuts Thus far the en-.
gine has done all that was expected Yes
terday, and on several previous occa-
sions, it has proved itself equal TO the
task of drawing loads az heavy as could
be applied, considering the character of
the road and rolling stock. On Wednes-
day, with the dynamo. electric machines
IL az tDt Idlt VI
forty-one miles anu 1000 feet in an hour,
the highest rate that has yet BEEN reach
ed. The rate Of speed is estimated by
the number of revolutions of the arma-
ture in the engine. The engine can be
readily started, reversed and stopped.
In the cab, where the steam gauge is
placed in the ordinary engine, is the
armature switch. Raising the lever sends
the current into the armature of the
dynamo-electric machine in the front of
the engine. If the lever is horizontal,
the circuit is broken, and if the lever is
pulled down the current is directed into
the armature in sucn a way as to cause
it to revolve In the opposite direction,
and the engine consequently moves back
ward. Mr.. Edison intends to use an
electric brake, but at present, in order to
stop, the circuit is broken and an ordi-
nary brake applied.
In examining the engine more closely
the reporter found two sheet.iron doors
in the sides of what appeared to be the
boiler, 80 that an inspection of the in
terror was easy. In front is dynamo
electric machine; running lengthwise
are the two legs of large magnet, and
the remainder of the interior is occupied
with shafts and betting. An interesting
feature is the course of the current and
its transformation into motive power.
1t is taken up from the rails by the rims
ofthe driving wheels, and passes through
copper clamps to the hub Rubbing
against the hub is copper brush at the
end of a horizontal rod, which has the
position of the connecting rod Of an ordi-
nary engine. The current taken from
the hubs Of the driving wheels by these
brushes passes along the rods TO wires
which lead to the armature switch in
the cab. From this switch the two wires
are conducted to the armature of the
dyname-electric machine in front This
machine may be said to fulfill double
function-in absorbing and storing up
electric energy as well as in developing it.
When the armature and bobbins re-
volve, the power is transmitted by belt.
ing around a pully on the same shaft
with the armature 10 a pully on skaft
under the cab. Thence betting runs to
a pully on the shaft of the driving wheel.
From the armature wires two smaller
wires run to the coils ofthe magnet placed
horizontally in the engine. These are
the field wires, and through them the
magnet becomes charged with electricity,
and exerts a controlling influence on the
armature which receives the greater
force of the current. Without this mag
net the armature would receive the full
power of the current and would become
so heated as to be useless; but the elec.
tricity in the magnet, which can be in
creased or diminished at will. tends to
draw the armature toward it, and in re-