Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-10-18


From the Electrical Engineer.
The time is certainly ripe for at least a brief
review of storage battery traction. 1t was first
attempted at the Paris exposition in 1881. Two
cars were run from the Place de la Concorde to
the Palais de PIndustrie. This was shortly
after Faure and Julien had begun to introduce
the storage battery in Europe. The experiment
began and ended there and was resumed in 1888
by Julien, who put u storage battery car in
service in Brussels. After q year or SO of
service this car was exhibited in service at the
Antwerp international exposition Of 1885. 1t
attracted SO much notice there and did its work
apparently SO well that il was awarded the first
prize MS the best and most economical method
OF street railway traction then known. Sue
ceeding this favorable report, and no doubt
actuated by what had been done at Antwerp,
the Electric Power Storage Company con-
structed and put in service one or more storage
battery cars at their works at Millwall, England
In the early part of 1885 MIR. Bauer, now of the
Pullman Company. made some experiments
with a storage battery car in Baltimore
with varying degrees Of success. I'm October
1856, storage battery traction was brought
prominently before the attention Of engineers
in this country by Julien car which was
put in service on Sth avenue, New York city.
That car was afterward transferred to the 4th
followed up by more cars, until in 1889 the
largest installation Of storage battery cars that
had ever been attempted Ito w.t. ten in alb
was put in actual service on the 4th and Madi-
son avenue line in New York city. They have
continued in service up to the present time
with the exception OF an intermission brought
about by adverse litigation. Following the ex-
ample Of the Julien people in this country the
Electrical Construction Company, limited, Of
England have made an installation of twelve
n nph ap
They have built a large station there expressly ]
for storage battery service and Mr.. Pritchard,
the engineer in charge, reports the road as
now in successful operation. Within the last
year or 30 storage battery traction has been re-
ceiving considerable attention in various quar-
tiers. Mr.. Wharton has now five or six cars in
actual service on Lehigh avenue, Philadelphia;
that line is run exclusively by the aid of stor-
age batteries. Another company is running
four cars at Beverly, Mass. and has been doing
30 for over a year with considerable success.
The Electric Traction and Manufac turing
Company in New Orleans have now two storage
battery cars in actual service and have ten adj |
ditional cars which they expect to have in serv-
Ice by the LIST OF November, while q number of
additional cars are being constructed for New
Orleans.
Two Julien cars are in passenger service AZ
Indianapolis, Ind, it is said with great success
A storage battery car equipped by the Daft |
Electric Company (now the United Electric |
Traction Company is and has been for several |
months past in service in Toledo and with |
great success II has carried as many a. l. 100 |
passengers in one day.
Ono or two cars have for some time been in /
service on the Metropolitan street railway in |
Washington, DC.
We understand that four storage battery cars /
are now in Paris and that arrangement are be-
ing made to enlarge the number.
In addition to the twelve storage battery
cars in service at Birmingham there are about
eight other cars In service here and there
throughout England, SO that there are in actual |
passenger service 20 cars in England, 10 cars in
New York, cars at Beverly, Mass, cars on
Lehigh ave., Philadelphia, 2 cars in Washing
ton, DC, 2 cars at indianapolis Ind, car at
Toledo, cars at Paris. IL cars at New Orleans
and about 6 additional cars here and there ON
the continent making in all Sc cars. This
would about represent the number of electric
cars run by the overhead system some what less
than three years ago: the storage battery carr,
however, II u claimed, run much better today
than the overhead cars did two and one-hslf
years ago. One Of the chief obstacles in the
way OF storage battery traction has been the
uncertainty arising from conflicting litigation
AZ 70 the ownership of storage battery patentA
Considerable allowance for delay must also be
attributed TO the fact that storage battery
traction 10 more difficult 10 attain than any
other practical system Of traction. II has taken
longer time from the very nature of
things to overcome the dffacultiss en-