Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-31
JAY GoULD's STEAM FIDDLE.

A Man with a Musical Ear Makes
Discovery Concerning the Elevated
Trains.
A little man with a great deal Of yellow
hair, says the New York San, sat in the
rear car Of an elevated railway train.
The window next to him was raised. His
arm rested on the window sill, and his
head was bent sidewise, as though he were
listening to some sound outside the car.
The train was running at that minute be-
tween the Forty-secOnd and the Fiftieth
street stations on the Sixth avenue line.
He took from his vestpOcket a tuning fork.
snapped the tines with the thumb and fin
ger of his left hand, held it to his ear,
sang a note or two, and then put the fork
back into his pocket. To the reporter he
said:
q see you have been interested. Per-
haps you take me for crank. Nc? Well,
! shouldn't have been discouraged il you
had. Since you have done me the honor
not to take me for a crank, I will tell you
something.
81 am engaged in developing a discov-
ery," the little man went on. ''That card
on the side of the car says that the eleVat-
ed roads carry 100000 passengers a day.
You wouldn't think that any interesting
fact concerning the train-a fact plain to
every passenger after it has been pointed
out to him-WOuld have escaped discovery
for six years, would you? Well, l don't
know as | am the first and only discover
er, but L never heard it mentioned till l
spoke about it, ListenW
The little man motiOned toward the open
window. The train was midway between
Sixth and Eighth avenues. The man pursed
UP his lips and made a fine, humming
sound. Then he stopped and asked:
"Do you catch it? OF course you do.
It is of the same pitch as the note 1
sounded. call it the singing of the train.
Now listen again. The train IS slowing.
The tone descends. Now 1t is broken
up into separate thumps that no longer
blend into a continuous note. You saw
me use a tuning fork. Well, l found that
the tone when the train was running the
fastest between stations was pretty close
to Ga little sharp, | should say. l
haven't investigated sufficiently to tell in
what ways this singing is effected. This
is the rear car. 1t may be stronger here
than in other parts of the train, or weak
er. | don't know whether it is produced
on the Third and Ninth avenue lines or
not. The structure of the road is differ
ent there, you know. | can't tell what eff
feet the bed OH which the pillars rest may
have on the tone. 1t is rocky under that
part OF Jne ROAD we nave just come over.
have never thought to listen and find out
whether rainy weather increases or de-
creases the singing.
"The fact that the pitch is highest when
the train is going the fastest" said the lit
tie man, decisively, ''shows that the
sound is produced by vibrations that are
dependent upon the speed of tie train. I
never heard any such sound on surface
steam cars-a musical tone independent
of the clatter and roar Of the train. So
am coming to theconclusion that the train
acts on the trusses of the elevated road
something as a bow acts on the strings of a
fiddle. If l am right, then the elevated
railroad system is steam fiddle on a com
pick and gigantic scale, and it is proper
on occasions to call it Jay Goulds steam
fiddler,