, 1884-07-19
AN ELECTRIC MOTOR.
Prof. Leo Dnft's Singular Railway
Line in New jersey.
4 Visit to the wizard OF Newark
Bay'-A Trial Trip with an
Electric


New York Tribunal
A company has been formed in this city to
furnish electric motive power to any aad
every ono VIII may have a wheel to turn.
The machine 1t proposes to use is the electro
motor OF Professor Leo Daft, which has sew
eral TINES been alluded to by the press II.
III Hawkesworth, tho anage OF the som
pany, was visited by a reporter, and inqui-
ries made OF him concerning the scheme.
$3.50 Mr.. Daft" he said. "He can show
more in half an hour than l can tell you In
ten dayR"
h reporter saw MI. Daft. About one
mile west of G~reenvilIe, N. J., nesting in a
grovuo Of trees is a small frame house of four
rooms, and under its shingled roof was found
the wizard OF Newark bay. Jumping up
from his dru wing board with an energy that
he might have drawn from one OF his own
motors, he said in CHEEKY tones: Come, take
n ride.n
"Ampere, - named from the distinguished
electrician, wa brought out from a neighbour
ing shed, aaadiSd and bridled, and the wizard
and his guest got aboard. A ready he
cried, and touching a lever, and giving a
quarter revolution TO a hveInch crank, the
engine moved away. Tho truck, from lbs APP
pearance, might have been built OF the debris
OF the first experimental railroad In America.
The rails wore old and worn and rusty; they
were up here, down yonder; q succession of
bumps and hollows; they were on a heavy
grade, and the one curve of 45 degrees was
like turning the corner of a fence. How in
the world any four wheels managed to follow
such a track was a wonder, but "Ampheren
whirled along 1t, back and forth, without a
groan, and was as docile and quiet ms a Shet-
land pony. The engine would sweep along to
within an inch of the ends OF the nails and
stop instantly, when on the vorge of going
over.
The power that moved the eng ne came
from a generator in the factory, through a
mile Of wire, which might as well nave been
ten miles or twenty-five miles in length. The
power was transmitted TO the engine by
means of q small iron rail, and The current
flowed through it, producing power sufficient
TO move "Ampere,n and a tandard gauge
passenger-car with seventy-five people up n
seventy-foot grndo, and yet barefooted chill
dren play upon the track unframed
In the factory close by, a small motor that
occupies less room than a sewing machine
operates the saws, lathes, planners and drills
Of a woodworking mill, and a still smaller
one In another room produces 900 revolutions
a minute In a thirty-six inch wing fan, end
drives a current of air through tho building
that would turn a Windmill. Professor Daft
would in all cass show the harmlessness Of
his machines by diyerting the current of
electricity operating them, into his own Per
SON., AID by closing the circuit with his
tongue; this, Notwithstanding the fash Of
light that opening the circuit produced.
"WhGt Is your plan for applying your
moter to domestic usesf" he was asked
I'VE shall build central stations, at which
we shall generate sufficient power to supply
every demand within a radius OF two and a
half miles. We will carry as much of that
power into your house as you wnnt, and
measure 1t out to you, and we will carry It in
a way that will afford you no Inconvenience,
taking up no room and being absolutely safe.
We will give you a moter of my capacity;
It win occupy only one-ifth the room Of any
other; will always be ready for instant use,
IS cleanly, requires no engineer, and Will
take care OF itself. You start and stop It by
a quarter revolution OF a three-inch crank"