Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-12-12
The LOCOMOTIVES EXIT.
EDISON MOTORS TO BE USED on
STEAM ROADS.

Trans at 100 Miles an Hour-Th.
Wizard Snys That Steam Engine,
Must Give Way TO the Electric Sys.
tenn.
Steam locomotives have had their day
and electric motors will take their place
This new device for whirling trains OF
railroad cars at a minimum speed of 100
miles hour is the invention of Thoma.
A. Edison The Wizard of the Electri;
Fluid has completed his motor, tested 1t
and is assured of its completeness, anc
backed by Henry Willard, the well knowr
New Yorker, will operate railroad be
tween Milwaukee and Chicago with cleo
tricity. Thus the era of steam locomo
tives, those tremendous machines thai
have been the wonder of this age, will
end on the 400th anniversary of the dis
covery of America.
Mr. Edison talks freely of the electric
motor and says it would displace the 10
comotive for three reasons, viz, it was
Speedier, safer, and cheaper.
at will get one horse power" he re.
marked, "out of from one to two pounds
Of cheap coal, whereas six pounds of ex'
pensive coal are used to make one horse
power in a steam locomotive.
at will carry train at 100 miles OF
even 200 miles an hour, while it strains
locomotive to cover go miles in that
time.
"The motor will be safer for the reason
that by means of an indicator in the
power houses which supply the electric
current the exact location of every train
on the road will be known at every
movement. That will be an absolutely
perfect block SYSTEM and will insure
perfect safety so far as collision of train:
is concerned. This will also be a saving
Of expense in maintaining the road. "
Mr.. Edison says the trains would be
run by electricity furnished the motors
from stationary power houses. "Tht
current will pass from the stationary ell
CINE to a central rail between the tracks,
thence through the mechanism attached
to the bottom of the cars or motor. A
freight train, of course, would needa a mo-
tor because of the number of cars, al.
though a single passenger car could be
run carrying its own motor beneath it
thence to the wheels, and thence ckby
the side rails to the power house or sta
tionary engine. Three stationary engines,
Zach with horsepower of 10000 or r.
200, would run the whole Pennsylvania
Railroad system for so miles.
For practical purposes feel sure that
q 100 pound rail on rock ballasted track
would stand the speed of 100 miles an
hour. The train will be stopped by air
brakes, the same as now. On the road
between Milwaukee and Chicago we will
run trains every 90 minutes at the light
ming speed of not less than 100 miles an
hour
The Wizard says the new motor could
be used for street railway purposes to
great advantage. He continued; "The
system will be the cheapest known. The
plant will not cost half as much as the
cable, and there will be no tearing up of
the streets. Why, under pressure could
lay mile of track for this system in a
night
"A pressure little heavier than the
one use would make horse lift his foot
so," and Mr. Edison raised one of his own
feet about half an inch from the office
floor, "but the pressure do use a horse
wouldn't feel, nor would a man. You see,
employ the heavy current with the low
pressure. That is the whole secret of
safety. The principle is this, thata stream
of water 100 feet wide which falls foot
gives the same power as a stream one
foot wide which falls 100 feet. The wide
stream is my way"
The third rail for street railways will
De discarded. Mr.. Edison says the diff
Guilty of picking the current out of the
mud has been solved. There is abso-
tutely no danger to vehicles, pedestrians,
Or horses.
Mr.. Edison said that if the Chicago
road was the success anticipated Mr.. Viii
lard would undoubtedly put the electric
motors on the Northern Pacific for car
rying freight and passenger traffic. He
has offered to run all the Pennsylvania
Railroads trains between New York and
Pittsburg.