The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-16

I stove. VI course the travelling puDiAc must
be kept warm not oaly in winter, but also
IN that more trying transitional period be-
tween the cold and hot seasons. As 70 the
flLal successor OF the car stove, | have no
opinion TO offer. Our ablest inventors and
scientists are, and for twenty years have
been busy finding substitutes for il, but
thus far their results, though satisfactory
10 an extreme degree, have not met the
want. The tendency at present is 10 en-
ploy steam heating. But besides this sys-
tenn are others which promise even better
things. Electric storage batteries, electric
stoves, chemical stoves, and compression
engines are among these novelties
Zone scientist has a plan whereby cleo
tricity IS used as fuel, so TO speak, and Is
| gathered up by the moving train just as
| the New York Central engines take up
water when at full speed The electricity
IS taken from wire or other conductor
| alongside Of the rails, is stored in accumu-
lators on the train aud is converted into
heat by a mysterious apparatus on board OF
each car
LAS to the peril Of collision, that is in a
great measure done away with, by the use
of our newest cars which are heavy and
| strong enough to withstand any shock that
in ordinary practice they are liable TO re-
ceive, by the Miller platform, the latest i'm
| proved couplings, and buffers. The tele-
| scoplng of cars which was formerly a US
| ual incident Of collisions is al
| most unknown now, and the horrors OF
+, such accidents are practically things of the
past. 1t is not unknown now that when q
| train smashes into another one, the passen-
| gers in the rear car will get out to see what
the matter is, and way the train has
stopped, and when they gofor ward find out
that the locomotive is shattered to frag-
| meuts.
sit has even been suggested to provide
| the engine with buffer attachment of steel
and iron, SO constructed as to convert
the locomotive into what might be called
| a mechanical ram. The b lffer principle is
still In the infancy of its development and
will e' entually do away with any possible
danger from collision.
"As to derailment, it comes from one of
two causes. In default of the occurrence
of one of these, tdore is little danger of
derailment- 1t is always possible that a
switchman may by an error, or by neglect
OF his duty, throw the train off the track
at switch. This is danger that can never
| be entirely done away with. You must in
any operation run up against human judg-
1nent, and you must rely on it. 1t is mani
| fes ly impossible to have everything auto
matte. This danger grows smaller every
| day with the extension of the automatic
system. This calls the attention of engi-
neer and bystander to a fact, which before
! OulJ D1 d SWItCuuldu. w ull0
an average man is just as careless as any
other, the probabilities of two or more
average men being careless upon the same
point, at the same circumstances is a min
| ute traction of that In regard to one man.
The ever-increasing use OF electrical appli-
ances enables a company to keep a dozen
watches upon every danger point and so
| to still further diminish the chances of
carelessness and consequent loss.
| hn nf su
broken rail. The improvement by which
we seek to obviate this is the use of steel
rails, and these steel rails are being made
heavier from time to time, and con ,equently
stronger. When we began using them, the
standard weight was forty-fve pounds.
| 1t was not long before this standard was
raised to sixty-fve pounds, and the last we
are using are eighty pounds. Besides this
| great increase in weight aud conc )mitant
strength and durability, there is an i'm
| provement in the manufacture of both the
| rail and the raw steel from which it is made
| The use Of this material in the place of
| wrought iron is the consequence of the in
ventions and discoveries of Besssmer,
Liemens and Thomas. But the output
made under their processes was very crude
and poor at the outset Competition has
changed this to so great an extent that the
FORCES of to-day produce metal that is as
different from what they did twenty years
ago as day from darkness. Much of the
new made steel is as fpe as that produced
by the slow and expensive processes of the
past. This is the chief reason why you
never hear any more of rails cracking
like glass in frosty nights, breaking up into
splinters like worn out brooms or wearing
away at points into hills and hollow5 like
the patent pavements of Broadway.
''Of course, derailment may occur, when
there is neither a broken rail nor an open
switch. There may be, for instance, a
broken axle, or defective wheel. Against
such accidents as these there seems to be
no possibility OF establishing any perfec,
safeguard. 1t is always possible That q
flaw may exist in iron, or that some defect
of workmanship may be overlooked, ano
the only way to fight against such dangers
is by the constant exercise of judgment anc
vigilance.
improvements in any human system
are always possible, and probably improve
ments will continue to be made from tim,
to time in railway service, but 1 do no
know that there is any line Of improve
ment possible excepting those in which WI
are continually striving to progress, and
those l have indicated, at least in out
line" FALEs-CURTIs.
HANGING MIN BY CONTRACT