Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-09-17
TESTING THE DAFT MOTOR.
Running at the Rate of Twenty Miles
an Hour.
From the New York Times.


A test of the practical working ca
pacities of the new Daft electric motor
was made on the tracks of the Ninth
Avenue Elevated Railroad between
Fourteenth and Fftieth streets last
evening. Soon after traffic on the
road had ceased for the day, Mr.. Daft
and bis assistants went to work on the
motor at the Fourteenth Street Station
and spent nearl y two hours In wrap
ping what looked like pieces of tape
line about various parts Of the me-
chanism. At 9 o'clock the motor was
attached to two passenger cars of the
Ninth avenue line, and when these
cars Were lighted s. crowd of people
pushed up the steps leadlag'to bG1h
sides of the station and demanded to
be given ride. A colored man, with
a very broad smile, kept guard, how~
ever, and permitted few inventors
and persons directly interested in The
invention 10 enter.
An hour was spent la putting the
final touches to the motor and In sees
ing that the switches were IN proper
condition. Then the engineer IL The
motor threw over lever and let
wheel down upon the steel rail In the
middle Of the track. A blaze like
big flash Of Lightning lii up the neigh
b0rhood.
"She's there, all right" said one of
the young men IN the cab, thereby
meaning that the electric current was
in working order
''Then let her CO." said Mr.. Daft.
k,iz =
an iron brush was revolving against
q steel bar, ind a shower Of sparks fell
into the street below. a blaze Of blue
fire flashed cut from under the motor,
and the car began to move up the
track. The train was on the center
track, which was In the circuit for
only short distance, and up at Fiji
teenth street the motor came to a
stand still. To get the cars back to
the circuit big cable was run from
the motor back along the track to the
first rail containing electricity, and
with this impromptu circuit to work on
the motor ran back IN a blaze of blue
fire and shower of red sparks. A
half hour was used up Ia switching
to and fro, and at 1880 o'clock the
train backed down upon the outside
up track and pulled out for the end
of the line at Fiftieth street. It rum
bled out of the station at lively gait
ard went bowling up the road to the
vCciferous cheers of crowd of people
on the sidewalks The drive-wheels
Of the motor were reflected in the
mammoth proportions on the fronts
OF the buildings, an, IN nearly every
house the people, startle d at seeing a
fierce blue glare dancing across their
windows, thrust out their heads and
stared like lot Of country people at
the annual circus. One bewildered
barkeeper in q saloon ran out and
chased the train up the street until
compelled to stop for breath. The
car horses seemed puzzled It the fierce
blue glare, and in most cases turned
square across the pavement until the
train went past.
On the up grades between Thirtieth
and Forty-second streets the train
went slowly. for the reason that the
engine in the generating room was
not running at more than threesquar-
ter speed. On level the train buzz
zed along at the rate OF twrenty miles
an hour. At Fiftieth street the mo-
tor was attached to the other end of
the car, and the run back was begun.
The speed for most of the distance
was about 25 miles an hour. The run
10 Fourteenth street was made IN SIX
and a half minutes. Mr.. Daft, the
inventor; IL. M. Hawkesw the
mana ger of the company, and James
K. Wright, one Of the Directors, ex-
pressed themselves as satisfied with
the test. Other tests will be made.
from time to time during the next
few days.
Ea,.-nar,f Dn.I- u,II q -