The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1889-02-21
A GREAT INVENTION.
Railway System and Travel to be Rev.
OlutiOniled.


The second day Of February, at Port
land, Maine, was the proudest day In +.
Moody Boynton's life. His famous BIZ
cycle engine has been banning back and
forth upon track built for il in the yard
Of the Portland company's works, where
it was constructed, and where another is
to be built at once, as well as several cars
Of the same style. The popular interest
in the thing is astonishing. Thousands
Of people have been down to see the ope-
ration Of this curious engine. At one
time during the afternoon there must
have been 500 people present, including
many ladies, but there were also business
men, capitalists and a great number Of
practical railroad men, Of whom many
came from distance.
The immense possibilities Of the new
system appeal very strongly to the i'm
agination. Mr.. Boynton, wearing a
curious fur cap, and looking more like a
minister than a mechanical inventor,
rode back and forth for an hour in the
second story Of his engine, shouting TO
the boys to keep Off the track, but de
clining to make speech.
He was asked: GLOW are you satis-
fed with the success of the experiments p
II am perfectly satisfied" he said. at
ran smoother and easier than / or any
one else expected, as nothing was com
plete, and it was the first crude expert
ment."
"Will you give some details?"
with one quarter steam and q con-
sumption Of fifty younds Of coal per
hour, the twenty.ton engine was moved
back and forth, a majority Of times with
with the steam shut up, working by ex-
pansion. There was no friction whatever
when running straight. So accurately
balanced was It that the wheels, all Of
them within an inch Of the guiding beam,
frequently stood entirely still. There
was no swaying whatever from side to
side, the smoothness, stiffness, ease and
grace Of motion was all that could be de-
sired. 1t was simply the bicycle running
on smooth steel and pushed by steam to
which 500 man power could he applied
by increasing the furnace fires. This
machine has n wheel 8 feet in diameter,
and two engines, each l2xl4 stroke. From
$50 to 600 revolutions or turns, equiva.
lent to $50 miles per hour, are its piston
speed and valve action. 1t is expected to
take four cars, each seating SS passengers,
one hundred miles an hour II necessary,
The weight Of these cars Is twenty-eight
tons, or seven tons each. II would re-
quire ten palace cars, weighing four hun.
dfed tons, or five passenger cars, weigh.
ing about half us much, to convey the
same number Of passengers we carry with
twenty-eight TONS"
Then there must be tremendous saw
ing?"
"Not only do we save fivefold in the
weight Of the train, but the friction ol
the bicycle spindle wheels is less thar
one-half Of the ordinary double track
train. A saving Of ten to one in the
power required permits the attainment oI
an average speed Of one hundred miles
per hour, or the carrying Of freight and
passengers at the present rate Of speed
with from five to tenfold saving in powei
required. The cost Of equipment, Of weal
and tear, will he materially reduced; each
single track railway, by this single rail
system, becomes double track, without
the purchase Of any new land, grading
bridging or tunneling. The only added
expense is the upper skeleton frame with
guiding beams, sixteen feet above the
track, which will cost, when made q
wood, from 1880 to $4,000 per mile, or 3
made q steel, about $4,000 per mile, ex.
elusive Of double length ties, to which
the arching steel is fastened. The average
cost Of tracking roads Is about $50, 900 pei
mile. By this system one-tenth Of thai
sum, with steel, gives ample allowance
for every contingent expense. No steel
rails are used overhead, only wooden
guiding beams, and the wheels scarcely
ever touch them, going straight"
"How about safety?"
'"The saietyis nearly absolute, II very
high rates Of speed are not desired. Th'
safety at one hundred miles per hour viii
be greater than the ordinary trains o.
twenty miles. There is no wedging o.
side strain, or oscillation with the bicycle
train, which is grooved both above ant
below, and cannot leave its track, ant
when made Of steel, fourteen feet deep, L
can neither break nor burn. And witt
additional safety wheels, wrecking is prac
tically impossible. The overhead struct
ure carries the wires with which the en-
gineer can converse in fog with trair
Fifty miles away, or with the station mas
ter while he is moving 100 miles pc
hour"
Orders have been given for additiona
equipment, and President Edward X
Davies and Treasurer George F. Morse o
the Portland company have Joined with
Mr.. Boynton in the organization Of I
Boynton bicycle railway equipmen
company for the manufacture Of the en-
gines and machinery, to be let to the rail
ways Of the United States on fair renta
for their use or TO be absolutely sold sub
ject to a royalty to the parent BOyntor
bicycle railway company Of 80 Nashul
street. New York. The treasurer Of thI