Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-11-18

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leet whlle he was completing the arrange
ments for an American company. The
foreigners had slittle conception OF the
1mmenslty OF the street car service in this
country. MIR. Julien appeared rather
doubtful OF the statement that the cities
OF New York ami BROOKLYN combined
used more street cars than the entire
kingdom of Belgium, and the assertion
that in the city of Philadelphia alone
there were 343 miles OF railway track was
secretly accepted as a specimen of Ameri-
can exaggeration. But the necessary
papers were signed, and Mr.. BrAcken,
after having arranged for the prompt
building of car for experimental tests in
New York, returned home to get his com.
pany in shape.
Mr.. Bracken is known TO many, He
read law With Henry NJ. Hoyt in Wilkes.
barre, and completed his studies with
george Northrop in this city. In 1888 he
moved to New York, and has since been
practiclng at its bar with success. He is
INDUSTRIOUS, energetic, and, above all,
practical. Re organized a company
with himself as President; Richard
Arnold, OF the New York Produce Ex-
change. as Vice President; Stephen ID.
Hatch, the architect of the Murray Hill
Hotel, the Gilsey House and Boreei build
4,
salon, the consulting and ANALYTICAL
chemist, of this city, as Secretary, and a
board or trustees, including Henry G..
MOTIFS, OF this city, formerly of Morris &
Iasker, and mechanical engineer OF
high standing. The experimental car
was TO nave been ready last June. but the
lack OF knowledge among foreigners con-
corning the peculiarities of our street
railway methods interfered in an unex-
pected way. The vehicle to which the
motor was attached was one of our ordi-
nary tram cars bdilt by Stephenson in
TINS country. This WIS selected rather
than one specially constructed for the
purpose, in order to show that no change
IN rolling stock would he made necessary
by the Introduction of the new system,
Mr.. Julien accordingly supplied it with
batteries capable of producing power
sutlclent to carry thirty persons. MIR,
Bracken sent him frantic cablegram,
stating that the motor would have to be
suthclently powerful to move seventy
passengers. Mr.. Julien was serene in his
belief that it would have to do nothing of
the sort, for the very simple and appar-
emily very conclusive reason thai the
car could only seat thirty persons. In
Belgium and France you must under
stand that when every seat in a street
vehicle is taken placard bearing the
simple announcement, "Complete,V is
displayed, and while it hangs forth no one
attempts to enter the car. 1t took some
time to explain to Mr.. Julien that in
America railway officials crowd even as
many as one hundred persons into single
street car, and ii they didn't do it would
be roundly abused by the average man, to
whom the idea of staying his frantic rush
through life by obliging him TO ''Wait for
the next car" would be maddening. So
Mr.. Julien had to supply the car with new
batteries, and it arrived IN New York
several weeks ago in readiness to carry
seventy passengers.
L have ridden on it from FOrtv-ninth
street to One Hundred and Fifth street.
Eighth avenue, a distance OF about five
and half miles. without the new system
displaying any defect or weakness. The
tests were made on very bad piece of
track, and yet the car moved with smooth
ness; it went up hill and down hill with
equal ease; it jOurneyed backwards and
forwards with equal freedom; it travelled
rapidly and slowly with an equal absence
OF unpleasant jerkiness. The test was so
satisfactory in all respects that | I'M
hesitatingly declare that If the statements
of MIR. julien concerning the life of the
battery and its amount of efficiency are
absolutely correcG-and they are borne
out by the Brussels service-then the
problem OF electric traction is solved. The
car that l rode on was arranged to carry
seventy passengers forty miles without
changing the batteries.
Mr.. Julien's system of electric traction
is emInently practical and economical.
1t involves no changes in the railway or
its appointments; no addition to the track
or roadbed. 1t merely requires making
space for the secondary batteries under
the seats and attaching the electric motor
to the trucks. With a small furnace at a
nominal cost to cast the plates, and
steam engine and dynamo for making
power. the plant is complete. The car
with which the test was made is an ordI-
nary tramway car, supplied with hand
brake, constructed for traction by horses,
and modified, after such use, with view
to the necessities ofits new requirements.
The accumulatOrs Of electricity are
placed under the seats, which necessi.
tated a slight raising OF the flooring in
order to allow the space originally occu-
pied by the drums over the wheels to be
made available. To facilitate the hand
ling of the accumulators, the lower panels
OF the car are made to slide open. The
introduction and removal of the accumu
lators, coupling, examination, and all the
work connected with the accumulators,
was done from the outside with the
greatest ease. The motor machine is an
Illuminating dynamo Of the Siemens
system attached to the frame of the car !;
its speed of rotation, at an ordinary rate
OF travel, is 1000 revolutions a minute.
Change Of speed is produced by simply
reversing the brushes, which is effected
by simple mechanism, controlled by a
small lever placed inside the car. The
accumulators while being charged are
placed on trestles of the same height as
the floor OF the car. 1t is thus an easy
matter, with a simple movement, to slip
the cases containing them underneath the
seats. This operation, however, need be
performed but twice day-in the MORN
ing when the cars are about to start out,
and In general after seven or eight round
trips. On the return OF the car to the
depot the substitution OF fresh batteries
for the exhausted ones require but ten
minutes, OF which hardly four or five are
needed for the replacing alone. The cost
OF the transformation of an ordinary car
Into an electric car is from 800 to $3.50.
What TO Teach Our Daughters.
From tie ChdrJsst0a Disp1teh.