Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-03-02
STORAGE BATTERIES.
The Wichita City Street Railway Contemp,at-
ing Adopting what is said to be Sue
ceSsfuI system.

superintendent George NJ. Dickson, O.
the Clty Street Railway, is becoming quit,
scholar in the matter Of information con
corning electricity in its various applica
tons as motive power. Nearly every
week some representative of different
| system of electric street railways calls up
| on Mr.. Dickson for the purpose O.
| inducing that company to equiv
| its forty odd miles of lines with
| electricity. There are now in operation
! several hundred miles of electric street
and other lines of railways throughout
thls country, and the rapidity with which
this ratio is increasing is something truly
| remarkable. The advancement being
made in this important direction promises
II continued with a similar ratio, that
| electricity as motive power will. ere many
years, supplant the direct application Of
steam Tor similar purposes. The
pennsylvania Railway Company has
Tor some months been experimenting
with electricity and has succeeded, it is
said in attaining an average speed OF
twenty-five miles per hour with passen-
ger train Other experiments of equal
Importance and magnitude are also being
conducted simultaneously in all parts oil
the scientific world. 1t is acknowledged
by all that the storage battery system will
be the ultimate result of these expert
ments. All electricians of note have been
endeayoring to contrive system by which
electricity can be successfully stored in
batteries and afterwards applied as a mo,
tive power.
men the EAGLE representative stepped
into Mr.. Dickson's Office yesterday after
noon and asked him if he had new infor-
nation from any of the various compan-
les that have been urging the adoption of
their systems on the City Railway Com
pany's lines, he said that he had some from
them and also some from a company
which has already in successful operation,
on lines in two Of the eastern cities street
cars propelled wholly by means of eiec-
tricity carried under the seats of the car
In storage batteries.
This company desires to equip the cars
OF the company mentioned with these sto-
rage batteries or cells which, together with
the necessary gearing, can be placed upon
any OF the cars now in use by the company
at comparatively small cost, they claim
The motive power of each car will be equal
to seven and one-half horse power, and
will develop that amount of power for
sixty hours, attaining an average speed of
about nine miles per hour In Wichita,
with an absence of grades worth
mentioning, this late of speed and
also of horse power, may be increased.
The system will, it is claimed, be cheaper
to install than line operated by direct
current or through wire from power
house or central station, because there will
have to be no wires nor poles erected
which will also make it more desirable for
the thoroughfares of the city, The batter
les can be charged with FRACTIONAL electric
lty from dynamos set up and operated by
the street car company or from the dyna-
mos OF one OF the electric light companies
OF the city. The cars when equipped can
be run on any of the lines of the compny to
to any part of the city, just as readily as
they now 90 by mule power, except that
the trips made with stored electricity as
motive power, will be much more frequent
and more rapid than by the tired mules
In case of extra crowds, several cars can
be run in the form of train even if all are
not equipped with motors The system is
sald 10 be very simple and easy to operate.
The cost of operating will mot exceed fifty
per cent. of that vita horses. The cars are
also lighted by electricity.
a representative of the system will visit
Wichita III the course of a few weeks and
submit a proposition to the Wichita City
Street Railway company. If the system
is the successful and ecomical one it is
claimed to be, Wichita will soon not only
have all of her street car lines equipped
with electricity, but Will have the very
best to be had If the storage battery can
be made to work as elegantly as does the
overhead system now in operation on the
Riverside line it Will be all that could be
asked and also is the coming power for
Wichita, who will have nothing but the
best of all modern innovations and con-
veniences, if she can but ascertain posi-
lively which is the best.