Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1889-06-21
MAILS At $50 MILES AN HOUR.
Postal Service by Electricity Be
tween New York City and
Boston,

u
date mails will be carried from New
York to Boston in sixty minuets. So
say the capitalists who are making
arrangements for the establishment OF
a transport line on these called port
electric system for the conveyance
of letters and packages between the
metropolis and modern Athens. Even
the least sangu1ne hacker of the en-
terprise is confident that if the eXpec-
ted public support is given to the
scheme not more than two years will
be required at most for the establish
ment of the necessary plant in run
ming order to bring the two centers OF
population within an hours distance
by post. The said plant will resem-
BILE, as to its most essential part, lit
tie elevated railway supported on a
single line Of tall iron uprights and
stretching from the postofice here to
that on the Island of Manhattan.
Along the track on top runs a small
car laden with mail freight, which at
certain intervals during its transit is
seen to go under queer looking, box
shaped arches. These box like ar
rangements contain each one a coil of
wire, passing beneath the rail below
and around over the arch, so that the
moving mail carriage runs, as it were,
through a succession Of coiled wire
hoops. And these latter cOmmuni-
cate the motive power to the vehicle.
Such a hoop Of magnetized cOiled
wire is called helix and possesses
this peculiar property; that if bar
of iron or steal be placed with one
end near the centre Of the coil the
bar will be drawn into that centre.
Place a number of similar coils in
row and start an electric current
through them; then apply the bar to
the first coil, and by cutting off and
letting on the circuit at the proper in
tervals, so as to disengage the bar
from the attraction Of one coil in time
to have it drawn on by the next, the
bar may be made to move continuous
ly through the hoops. It is in this
way that the little mail-car Of magne-
tized steel is caused to pass along its
rails through successive coils Of box
ed-in wire, the latter being magnetic
ed by a current from a dynamo, which
the car itself shuts off and turns on
automatically as it proceeds, The
speed to be attained by the car in this
manner is almost Incalculable. AS is
recognized in mechanics constant
propelling force is productive Of near
ly infinite velocity, INSTRUCTED only
by the resistance of friction. In this
system the only friction comes from
the air and the slight contact of the
car with the rails. Two hundred and
fifty miles an hour is not thought to
be an overestimate Of the speed easily
to be compassed by the portelectric
post dispatch. At the starting point
the wire coils will have to be close to-
gether, and on up-grades; but else
where, and especially on down-grades,
they may be few and far between,
the motive power needed being slight.
Six stations, placed at intervals be-
tween here and New York, will sup
ply the requisite currents from dyn-
amos.
s. Many experts think that the system
is destined to revolutionize the postal
serves in this country. For instance
it is expected that instead of mails
hours apart between Boston and New
York carriages will be sent over the
tracks from either end of the line al
tve-minute intervals, thus rendering
unnecessary the waiting for mails tc
close, and giving people in one city
an opportunity to read their letters
two hours after they are written in
the other. Once prove the notion E
success here and it will be quickly
adopted everywhere. By applying il
on a larger scale, too, who knows that
it may not serve for the transporta
ton of passengers some day? At the
rate Of $50 miles an hour one coulo
put a girdle around the earth in foul
days! Truly, it is wonderful cen.
fury we live in.