Omaha daily bee., 1888-11-04
AMONG THE ELECTRICIANS.
Gossip Of Telephones, Motors, Wires
and Batteries. 49,
FLASHES FROM THE DYNAMos.
A Wonderful street Car Propelled by
storage Battery Motor-Full
Description OF the sys-
tom In New York.
"A Wonderful Car.

batteries. The car is eighteen feet long
from door to door. The platforms are
about four feet wide, rather more roomy
than those of the standard street car,
which has a sixteen-foot body, and so
the total length Of the new car is about
twenty-siX feet. .
Instead of -four wheels it has eight, on
two trucks of four each. placed well out
toward the body and attached by ''king-
bolts Just as the truck of an ordin-
airy steam railroad car attached. This
enables it to round II short curve easily
and without jarring.'
Instead OF oil lamps, the car has cleo
trio lights. a group Of three in the cen
ter and one 1T either end. Over the
drivers head on either platform is a big
electric gong, with which to warn off
the track the driver Of the slow dray
who won't get out of n way. This
bell the driver rings by touching a push
button on the platform with his foot.
The current, as well as that for the
lights, comes from the storage batteries
which operate the motor.
These storage batteries occupy the
space under the seats. The panels on
the outside of the car, below the win
dows, open outward on hinges and ex-
pose u place on either side large enough
to hold four big wooden ~trays-eight in
all-each of which contain thirty-six
cells-square boxes of hard rubber.
Each cell contains a number of plates of
Nead, arranged in positive and negative
groups, and also contain the solution"
which is nine-tenths water and one
-Anth sulphuric acid.
Ehen these trays of cells are placed
IN position in the car, they are con-
nectcd automatically, so that all the
cells in one side of the car constitute,
in effect, n storage battery. Each
tray, with its contents, weighs about
five hundred pounds, so that when a "A
is ready to start it has aboard about two
tons of storage battery.
The company has a station" and a
''plant" at the E~ighty-sixth street depot
OF the Fourth avenue line. The sta
ton Is, in effect, simply a big room in
which it houses the car, loads it up with
electricity, makes repairs, If necessary,
etc. The plant" at the ''station" con
sists principally of two Geventy-horse-
power steam engines and two big dyna-
mos, such as generate electricity for
incandescent lights.
The current is one of low electromO-
tive force and will not hurt anybody.
The storage batteries won't blow up or
tip the car off the track, or sting any
body to death. A man may take the
full force of the current from the dy-
namO through the ends of his fingerse
and not feel it a tenth part as much as
he would that from the ordinary med
ical battery.
Suppose the electrician wishes to start
out the car, eight Of the trays spoken of
are ranged on benches, on either side
OF a bit of track in the station ,On which
stands the car. Four are on either side,
and the benches are just OF the right
height SO that the trays may readily
slide from them into their places under
the car seats. The engines start up
and the dynamos begin to revolve. The
electric current which they generate
travels along wires to the tray cells
and fills them up. It's like pouring
water into a series of pals with a
hose.
IL the batteries are empty at the out
set it will take about six hours to fill
them, aud then they will run the car
about thirty miles, but as there are two
sets of batteries for the car, and will be
for each one when there are moro cars,
the batteries will be charged at the end
OF each trip, and so it will not take long
to fill them. When the batteries are
full they are slid into their places under
the seats, the panels are closed up and
the car is ready to start.
The motors are on the car trucks.
They do not differ materially from other
w~ell-known motors, excepting that they
are designed especially for the work
they do. They have two pairs of
brushes that Is the sheets Of copper
which rest on. the revolving part Of the
motor, and which convey electricity to
1t. When the motor is reversed one
pair is thrown of automatically and
the other pair is brought into contact.
On the truck just below tho motor is
q counter shaft, which has a geared
wheel which engages a pinion or little
geared wheel on the motor. 1t also has
q toothed wheel on the axels of the
truck. Thus the motor moves the coun-
ter shaft through geared wheels and
the counter shaft moves the aXles of the
truck with a chain bolt. The proper
tiOns arc such that the motor revolves
about seven times to turn the car
wheel once.
Now the car is ready t. go on. The
driver-he was just an ordinary street
car driver u few months ago, but he has
been trained to run the now car and he
likes 1.-THE driver stands in the same
the reins. AT his right hand is the
brake, which has a wheel Instead of n
crank, and ut his left, on top of a square
box which rises from the floor, is a
lever.
Inside the box is the governor"
which is a device for turning as much
or AS little electricity as may be wanted
to the motor. With the lever at the top
the driver may turn on the full force OF
the batteries, q little force or may turn
1t of altogether. Or he may reach
down, turn u switch and send the cur
rent in the other direction, so the mo-
tor will mopel the car back ward.
. The conductor rings the bell, the
driver turns his lever one notch and the
car begins to move slowly out Of the sta
ton; another notch and it goes merrily
down the avenue until il reaches a hill.
Still further the lever is turned and the
a climbs the hill as easily as il a loco
motive were pushing it,. .
Some one signals to get aboard or a
team m dashing out of u side street
and back goes the lever as easily AS you
can turn your hand. The diver applies
his brake, and the car slows down or
comes to a stop almost ut once and with
out u jar. =
Aud so the round trip is made. The
car is under better control han a horse
car 1t IA make twelve miles an hour
il it is desired, and il it loses time by
getting into a blockade it can make il
I'M much more easily than can one