Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-03
THE ELECTRICAL RAILWAY.
Successful Opening of the New Road in
CLEVELAND.

z
land Herald of the trial trip of an electric
car on the new railway, spoken of in our
dipatches recently. The car wSs-
loaded full of passengers, all gazing down
into the red box 50 intently that no one
seemed to realize when the machinery
and the car started, the latter so
gently that no one was obliged to
seize a strap for support. The crowd
| heralded the start of the car with cry
of satisfaction, and the small boys sprang
out of the way and followed il in a tri-
umphant procession, shouting, "Oh, look
at the lightning under the carl" when a
sort of blush, reddish flame played around
an iron running in a continuous opening
about an inch wide, midway between the
rails. The machinery needed a slight
alteration, and the car, having run few
rods down the street, was run back to the
| barn. To reverse it the operator stepped
to the opposite end of the car and worked
lever like the one on other end of the
coach. More passengers, including some
little girls and ladies, got aboard the car,
but 1t moved with as much ease with the
added weight as before, at about the speed
| of a horses slow trOt. The hOstlers
employed in the street-car barns eyed the
affair ruefulIY as il they thought, 'EOthello's
occupations almost gone" The East
Cleveland Street Railway Company en-
DlOy dDOub tOO VI tIESG uO5LltIbs
The experiment of running the car was
| a success, speaking in general terms,
although the new and untrIed condition of
things made several stops necessary, and
the arm holding to its place the central
brush that receives the electric current
from the trough in the middle of the rails
was too weak, and finally broke as the
car was returning to the barn, after
having run up and down the track several
tImPG EOnr niIns from tho bQrOG from
which the car started a 30-hOrse power
dynamO-electric machine like that in the
electric light works was running. Over
No. wire the electric current flowed to
pole opposite the barns, and it slid over
wires leading down from this pole into a
submerged trough between the rails.
| This trough extends the whole length of
the Garden street extension, a mile long,
and an aperture about an inch wide runs
the length of the trough. Fastened in this
trough by insulators on each side of the
aperture are two iron bars, looking like
miniature L railway rails. Over these
fioW the two currents of electricity. A
broad iron reaching down through the
aperture, and projections ON this iron,
called brushes, tit into the space between
these rails. These brushes catch up the
electric fluid and transmit it up to the
motor beneath the car. This motor is
! almost miniature reproduction of the
| dynamo machine at the electric light sta
! ton. Every tWO-hOrSe power of the
| dynamo machine at the station gives one
| horse power on the road. Thus power
equal to 10 horses was cOursing through
the submerged trough, and the Inventors
claimed that at least eight loaded cars
| could have been run over the line. The
! trouble has been with nearly all electric
street railways heretofore that it has been
possible to run not more than two cars at
a time. The electric current having been
| brought up from the submerged rails, is
| transmitted to the motor by brushes on
/ the bearing that give out bright green
| sparks OF electricity, while the brushes
! running in the groove between the rails
/ seem TO shoot forth, at times, reddish
/ fire. The Young man with the lever in
/ hand pushed down the bearing brushes on
| which the electric current was waiting
| to jump to the motor. The connection
| with the car motor having been made, the
| armature began to TeVOlve rapidly and
! turn the pulleys over, which ran betting
made of four-coil wires which ran over
| larger wheel and from thence to the wheel
| inside the car wheel proper and attached
| to the same axle. Then the car moved
off. 1t swept around sharp curves with
! ease. 1t could, the inventors claim, be
| made to run at eight or even 10 miles an
! hOur-the ordinary street car does not
exceed five. Lest small boys should stuff
obstacles in the crevice between tracks,
a steel sweep will be rugged in front of the
! brush that runs in the crevice. Ice and
snow, being non-conductors, will not be a
source of much trouble, but while frozen
water is a non-cOnductOr, water in its
normal state is good conductor of electri-
city, and to carry it out of the trough
little catch basins will be built at frequent
| intervals. "The cost of fitting up this
| mile of track did not exceed $5,000" said
one of the syndicate of Cleveland and
New York capitalists interested in the
| electric street railway venture. cit
would cost about 100000 a mile to alter
an ordinary street railway to a cable
| line''