Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-08-27
HOLD YOUR DMEATH
Ana reed How q Traiu May GO From
Philadelphia to New York In 60
Ninute4.


And Read How Train May Go From
Philadelphia to New York In 90
Minutes.
ThesElectro-A Transit company,
Of Baltimore, has an experimental two mile
track in that city on which they have
moved small train at the rate oftwo miles
. minute, using the patents Of David 9.
Weems. Now the same company are
applying for right Of way 10 build Ave
inventor promises that within ak months
he will have train running at the rate OF
FIVE miles in one minute.
The vo-mile-a-minute railroad II to
have q track built on the ground, just like
an ordinary track, except that the rails
inner side. A shoe depending from the
car reaches under this flange, and when
ever the car Tits the shoe touches the hange
and prevents the car from leaving the rails.
The motive power is TO be electricity,
low-tension, direct current Of $50 horse
power, supplied by an overhead conductor,
borne not upon poles. but upon a success
sion of frames arching the track. This
framework will cover the track for Its
entire length, and barbed wire will he
strung along 1t to keep cattle and other
animals of the track. Ii will resemble
from the outside a long grape arbor. The
barbed wires will be insulated, and may be
used for telegrlphing. The IA! patents
which Mr.. Weeins has obtained include
several for using the rails themselves as
conductors.
The motor will weigh about three tons.
The most novel feature electrically OF the
invention il the fact that the electricity acts
directly upon the driving wheels, the axles
OF the wheels being used as the core of the
motor. This overcomes the difficulty
which has heretofore prevented the attain
ing of . greater speed than twenty miles or
an an hOnr bv an alnpt rio motor. Mr..
Weems says that the motor he has beon
using at Laurel, lifted from the track, but
with the journals weighted to compensate
for the relief given them, has been run up
TO $500 revolutions minute without In
jury. The wheels of the Garden City
motor will be ~ inches in diameter, and at
1900 revolutions minute, therefore, will
make the circuit of the five-mile grape
arbor in just one minute, ifnothing breaks.
The current will be communicated to the
motor by means of a small brush sliding
along the conductor overhead. The con-
tact will be very slight and the friction
small
The wheels of the motor, and of the cars
also, will be inside, and the only projections
will be the journals Of the wheels on each
vent heating, and will be encased in shell
like boxes to reduce tho resistance to the
air as much as possible. The motors and
the cars will be telescoped together at the
ends when coupled, so that the whole train
will look as If made in one piece. Besides
this, the front Of the motor and the rear of
the last car will be built out TO point, so
that the train will slip through the air like
g vessel through the water. BY an In
genious arrangement the front point can
he raised or lowered, varying the upward
or downward pressure of the air and
tightening or increasing the pressure on
the rails.
The automatic train will carry no pas
sengers or employees. twill he controlled
entirely from the generating station. The
moment the current Is broken the brakes
are applied. They will stop the train, when
going Ave miles q minute, in 1000 feet Mr;;
Weems says. The brakes stay set until
the current begins again. The passage OF
the train rings bell al the station, and
drops tag like that of n hotel annunciator
every mile or so along the route. The
man at the station can thus always tell
very nearly where 1t is. If IL has to crossa
draw bridge, the opening Of the draw will
break the current, and the train will be
stopped and cannot go OH until the draw is
closed.
The cars will carry ton each of ex-
press and mail. They will be running
two years, If the Jersey Legislature doesn't
object, Mr.. Weems says, and will make
the run in twenty minutes. theoretically
the train could run from New York to
Chicago In six hours.
The train that will make this terrific
speed will be only about feet high. and
the cars will be from 20 to 80 feet long.
The gauge will be ecorrespondingly narrow.
All that is contemplated at first is the use
of the system as an adjunct to the present
railroad system for the swift carriage of
express, mail, and other light goods. Mr..
Weems also has patents for system for
passenger carriage. At present, he says,
the system would not be practicable for
short distance rapid transit, because 10 be
perfectly safe from breaking down the
motors must be started comparatively
slow, and reach their regular speed gradu-
ally. All Mr.. Woems' efforts have been
concentrated upon getting machine that
would go fast for long distances.
1t is said that the track will cost about
5000 mile, and that for $40, ,000, 900 line
eould be built and equipped from New York
to Chicago. There will be two tracks at
Garden City, one within the other the
first one completed will be used for the au-
tomato system. Passengers will be car
ried on the other.