The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-16
AN ELECTRIC MULE.
"A New Motor that May Revolutionize the
Country's Street-Car System.

Washington Special.
Electric motors for street railways are provir 9
| success in Baltimore. The directors OF the new
| line, opened in that city yesterday, expressed
themselves at being much eratiied at the success
OF the electric motors, which have taken the
| place Of the horses on their line There are two
motors, the Morse ard the "Faraday" The
! motor weighs about 500 pounds, and with the
! ordinary horse car attached, with its quota Of
| passengers can make the trip to Woodberry and
return, about four miles. in less than twenty five
| 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 considerable turn. 1t is not
proposed however, to run the motors at An ex-
cessive rate Of speed. as the road along the rail
| way is quite thoroughfare for people living at
! Hampden, NOodberry and beyond, and too
great speed might result in accidents to passers-
| by The manner Of running the motor Is as
| follows: Between the rails upon which the
| wheels of the car run has been placed third
| rail, which is insulated from the ground. and
| where break is necessary at switches, etc, the
| continuity is preserved by means of insulated
wires AT the stables, on Huntington avenue.
is - horse power engine, which drives two
| dynamo machines, each of 5O-horse
power. Only machine is really
| necessary to run the motors, but the second
machine is to be used in case Of accident to the
! first.
| By system Of switches and safety switches
| tho engineer turns current of electricity into
| the third rail- by which it is communicated to
| smaller dynamo machines 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 switch.
The motors are now transporting passengers,
though on account of some temporary difficulties
are running at rather long intervals, but num-
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 mo-
| tor system is the fact that there is some little
| danger to stock and horses receiving a shock
| from the middle rail The directors, however,
| at their meeting yesterday, decided to obviate
these dangers by placing planks Oh each side of
and a short distance higher than the middle rail
| This has already been done at road crossings,
but, in spite of precautions elsewhere, has been
| found to De necessary the whole length of the
| road.
The experiments on the Baltimore & Hampden
| line have demonstrated the practcabillty of the
motor system, which, moreover does away with
| dust, cinders smoke and noise, for the motor
moves along with hardly any sound except a
| low, Kissing noise, which, it is said will lot be
heard after the motors have been running some
! little time
The center rail of the electric railway puzzled
number of dogs yesterday. While crossing the
track a small terrier dog struck the end of his hind
| foot against the center rail- which was charged
with electricity and without investigating the
| cause Of curious sensation which he suddenly
felt, he lowered his tail and sped up Hun tincton
avenue at lightning speed. A large, black New
found.and dog got his front paws on the electric
rail at Mt Vernon, near Hampden. and, failing
| to extricate himself snapped vigorously at the
rail with his teeth, He was finally released by
some men. who pulled him away. The center
rail. when charged with electricity, will shock a
| Fowl, but the English sparrow does not mind it
| at all. He will sit on the rail without being
affected when it is charged.