Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-08-20
RUNNING CARS BY ELECTRICITY
Beginning of Passenger Travel on the
baltimore and Hampden Railway.

From tho baltimore sun.
meeting OF the board OF directors Of
the Baltimore and Hampden railway was
held yesterday az their Office, Huntington
avenue, near Oak street. They expressed
themselves as being much gratitied at the
success Of the electric m tors which have
taken the place o the horses on their line.
There are two motors, the Morse" and the
'Faradav.V The motor weighs about
1880 pounds, and with the ordinary horse
car attached, with its quota of
passengers, can make the trip to
WoOdberrv and return, about four miles,
in less than - minutes. The road is up
hill nearly all the way TO WoOdberry, and
in one place just beyond the bridge over
the Delta road is very steep, and at the
same time makes "A considerable turn. 1t
is not proposed, however, 10 run the
motors ri an excessive rate OF speed, as
the road along the railway is quite
thorOr ghfare for people living ut Hamp-
den, WOOdberry and beyond, and too great
a speed might result IN accidents to pass
ers-by.
The manner of running the motor is as
follows: Between the rails upon which
the wheels OF the cars run has been placed
a third rail, which is insulated from the
ground, and where break is necessary
at switches, etc, the continuity Is pre-
served by means Of insulated wires. At
the stables at Huntington avenue is 8 So
horse power engine, which drives two dy-
n7mO machiues. each Of 50-borse power.
Only one machine is really necessary to
run the motors. but the second machine is
t. be used IN case of accident TO the first.
BY system Of switches and safety
switches the engineer turns a current OF
electricity into the third rail, by which it
il communicated TO smaller dynamo ma
chimes in the motor, and thus the motor
Is started. The return current is made
through the wheels. outside rails. and the
ground. Stops are made by the engineer
in the motor breaking the current by
means of a switch. The motors are he
invention of Prot. Leo Daft, of the Daft
Elec rio Light Company, who has been in
Baltimore experimenting the starting OF
the motors. but he returned to New York
Wednesday night.
The motors are now transporting pas
sengers, though on account of some tem-
pOrary difficulties, are running at rather
long intervals, but a mum Der Of stages
suffice to meet the demands OF the public.
The only difficulty now in the way of the
permanently successful working of the
motor system ID the fact that there is some
LITTLE LANCER TO stock and horses receiving
a snock from the middle rail. The direct
ora, however, at their meeting yesterday
decided TO chviate this danger by placing
planks on each side Of and a short dis
lance higher than the middle rail. This
has already been done at road crossings,
bat in spite of cautions elsewhere has
been found to be necessary the whole
length OF the road.
TIE experiments on the Baltimore and
Hampden line have demonstrated the
practicability Of the motor system. which,
moreover. does away with, dust, ciuders
smoke and noise, for the motor moves
along with hardly any sound except 8
low, Kissing noise, which, it is said, vii
not be heard after the motors have beer
running some time. It Is understood thai
the same kind Of motor VIII be INTRODUCED
upon the Ninth Avenue Elevated road il
New York city next week.