The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-03-12
TELPHERACE.
(Eatrdcts from Nature, NoUemder
5M, 1850

special tram from Victoria conveyed
a party of about 200 guests, among
whom were many leading electric
ians, engineers, and other we'll
known men of science, to Glynde,
in Sussex, to witness the ceremony
of the opening of the first telpher
line erected in this country. The
ceremony was performed by the
Viscountess Hampden, and was OF
an exceedingly simple character; on
lifting a small box containing
present which the Chairman of the
Company invited her ladyship to
accept, electric communication was
instantly established between the
dynamo in the engine-house and the
telpher line, and train loaded with
clay at once began to move up an
incline towards the Glynde Railway
Station, amidst the applause of the
assembled spectators. Whether this
ceremony, which brought so many
distinguished visitors down to Lord
Hampden's estate on Saturday, is
the Inauguration of a great COM
mercial enterprise is beyond our
province to inquire; but it is un-
questionable that the slight flash
seen when Lady IIampdcn lifted the
little box lying on the table in front
of the engine-house marked the be-
ginning of n new departure in
electro-technology.
Telpherdge has been defined as
the transmission of goods and pas
sengers by means of electricity with
out driver, guard, signalman, or
attendants. The conception of
propelling electrically continuous
stream of light trains along an
elevated single rail or rope was due
to the late Prof. Fleeming Jenkin,
but, as stated by him in his intro
ductory address at the University of
Edinburgh, he did not see his way
to carry this conception into practice
until he read the account of the
electrical railway exhibited by Pro-
fessors Ayrton and Perry at the
ROYAL Institution in 1882, when the
idea of subdividing the rubbed con-
ductor into sections and providing
an absolute block for automatically
preventing electric trains running
into one another, was first publicly
described. A combination between
these three gentlemen was then
effected, which led ultimately to the
formation of the Telpherage Com
pany, and to the series of expert
ments, lasting for over two years,
on actual telpher lines erected at
Weston in Hertfordshire, on the
estate of Mr.. Pryor, the chairman
of the company. Various devices
were worked out, forming the sub
ject of patents, which, together with
the other patents of Professors
Fleeming Jenkin, Ayrton, and Perry
in telpherage, previously taken out,
are possessed by the present Tel,
pherage Company. At the COM
mencement of this year matters had
sufficiently advanced for the erection
.of commercial telpher lines, and as
a tramway or road would have much
interferred with the grazing and hay
growing carried on in the fields at
Glynde, and as, in addition, these
fields are under water during the
winter, telpherage appeared te
furnish the cheapest and most suit
able mode of carrying the clay from
the clay pits to the London, Brighton
and South Coast Railway. Conse
ouently, the Sussex Portland Cemen
Company decided to adopt thi
method of transport.
The line now opened is nearly
mile long, and composed OF doubl
set of steel rods, each &C feet long
three-quarters of an inchin diameter
and s feet apart, supported OF
wooden posts standing about Is fee
above the ground. On the death o
the late lamented Prof. Jenkin, tn
construction of the Glynde telphe
line was left for completion in tn
hands of Prof. Perry, who was thel
appointed the engineer 10 the Com
pany. The new line, it must b.
understood, is more than q mere ex
detrimental attempt. Although, a
scientific men will appreciate, ne,
undertaking must necessarily involv
much tentative experience, the pre-
gramme carried out on Saturda
marked the final result of the eS
periences gained by the constructor
under the direction of Prof. Perry
and the Company are now regularl
delivering clay at the Glynde Raj
way Station for the use of the New
haven Cement Company at a price
as we are informed, of 74d. per tor
The garlanded train which passe
along the steel roadway ON Saturda
consisted of an electric locomotive
at about the middle of the trair
and propelled by the electromotol
and ten skeps or buckets, whic