Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-30

headerS OF IHE DISPATCH VINO ueSlre
information on subjects relating to indus
trial development and progress in mechani-
cal, civil and electrical engineering and the
sciences can have their queries answered
through this column.
New applications of electricity are con-
stantly being developed, and among them
may be mentioned one that has been made
at the Greenwich, England, Observatory.
In the last report of the Astronomer Royal
to the Board of Visitors of the . observatory
it was stated that small electric hand
lamp (with secondary battery had been
substituted for the wax taper formerly used
for reading Thermometers of the horizontal
and vertical force magnets, and had been
found very convenient as well as much
safer. -
A prominent electrical man, in discussing
recently the subject of storage batteries,
said: "We may talk about our electrical
friends on the other side of the water, how
slow they are and how little progress they
make, as compared with that made in the
States, etc. Nevertheless these same people
are getting ahead of us on the storage ques-
ton. Not to mention those eminent scien-
lists o.. the Old World, who have done the
great bulk of the work in this line, look at
the efforts being made to adapt.the accumu-
lator to road vehicles. Here we are in this
city of New York, with electric light
stations all about us. and streets
as level as a billiard table, Why does not
some enterprising genius take this problem
in hon1 oh al
cart was built in England for the Sultan Of
Turkey. 1t was claimed for it that a speed
of ten miles an hour was developed and
could be maintained for five hours. With
storing stations located all through the
residence portions of the city, as well as in
the business portion, our citizens. instead of
owning a horse and carriage, could use
electrical vehicles. What would be prettier
than telephoning for your electric cart and
having it brought, already charged, for
run of five hours? 1t may be claimed that
this will be too expensive to be practicable.
This. however, is just what was said con-
cerning the electric light and the electric
motor. will hazard the prophecy that
you and I, if we live another 20 years, will
see electric dogcarts and tricvcles as plenti-
full as those now pulled by horses, and
driven by foot power" There are the very
best grounds for believing that this
prophecy will be verified long before 20
years have passed.
G. W. Mansfield, in paper read before
the Thomson Electric Club, of Lynn, gave
a short history of the ordinary street car.
1t was somewhere In 1910 that the first street
vehicle was drawn about on wheels, but was
given up as failure. One hundred years
later iron rails were tried and also discarded.
In 1927 the Baltimore and Ohio "horse car"
line was opened up, a short distance being
covered, and from this wonderful results
have grown. The first street railway was
operated in 1882 from New York to Harlem,
and to-day there are $4,000 cars in use on
the streets of cities in the United States, re-
quiring the services OF 18O, 900 horses. In
1856 the first street car was operated in Bos- |
ton distance of three miles. though great |
opposition was met with. Boston to-day |
operates the largest street car service in the |
world, 10000, 900. persons being carried |
over the rails in one year. To meet the |
problem of more rapid means of transit |
the electric railroad has come in, steam |
having proved a failure on the streets. |
With the electric motor trains of three or |
four cars can be run at high rate of speed, |
which it is impossible to do with horses. Mr.. |
Mansfield showed that even in the present |
transitional state of the electric motor, a |
speed of 80 miles an hour can be readily OBJ |
tanned.