Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-10-27

the wizard, noncommittally. and then
went on. indicators would tell the
men at the power houses the location of
every train at every moment. There,
you see, is an absolute block system"
street Railroads.
Here Mr.. Edison attacked the street
car subject with interest This was
the problem, he said. II have been
working on it for two years. AS told
you before, any electrician can get high
speed. One thing was to get slow speed
to run four or five miles an hour when
necessary. And then the grades, Why,
some street car grades are 12 per cent.
With railroads the highest is generally
2 per cent And then the mud Well,
can pick the current up out of two
inches of mud have done so on my
experimental track down at Orange.
but can tell you it took all kinds Of
contrivances to do it,"
lis the system the same as that for
the railroads?
mo, there was another difficulty.
The thing was to get system which a
man, such as street car lines have to
employ, could operate without knowing
about it. To make it more simple for
him makes it more complex for us. OF
course, | have the stationary engines.
but for simplicity's sake have abolished
the central rail The current passes
along one of the side rails to the motor
and back to the stationary engine
through the other"
"But in city street will not condi-
tions arise that will distract the current
running along naked rail under wagon
wheelsY'
The wizard smiled again as if to say:
"That's All easy one" and replied
"There are four fire engines in the city
of New York which have iron wheels,
and we'd have to look out for them
somehow. But these are the only vc-
hicles, so far as [ know OF the thousands
in use there, which have iron wheels.
The rest are all wooden, and would not
affect the current"
GLOW about the safety of the public
with an electric current running up and
down the car tracks III the middle of u
crowded street%
The nearest approach.to proud. tri
umphant smile which had appeared
there, then made its presence known on
the Wizard round, cheerful visage.
ga PRESSURE" he said, "a little heav-
ier than the one used, would make n
horse lift his feet so" and Mr.. Edison
raised one OF his own feet about half al
inch from the Office floor; "but the pres
sure | do use horse wouldn't feelat u,
nor would man. You see, ! employ
the heavy cIrrent with the low pressure.
That is the whole secret of safety. 1
principle is this, that a stream of wat;t
one hundred feet wide which falls
foot, gives the same power as a
stream one foot wide which falls hu
dred feet. The wide stream is my way.
the high fall some other peoples, ami
the allowance Of such pressures in puO.
lie streets, like some that are used, is
like letting man place boiler in a
vault under street and put on thou
sand pounds of steam if he wants TO do
SO. Electricity has developed too ia.
you see, for the law to keep up with =
The whole question is one of eXpel
A low pressure trolley wire, for in
stance, requires four times as much cop
per as Il high pressure one"
"Will the street car plant be expen-
sive"
"The system will be the cheapest
known. The plant will not cost half s
much as the cable. and there will be no
tearing up of the streets. Why, under
pressure CouAu lay u llllo VI IIdCh Oll
this system in night. l think" said
the Wizard, growing almost enthusias-
tic, "that / have really solved the great
street car problem. 1t is cheap, swift
and safe. IN smaller cities one of its
great advantages will be to double the
traffic. Tho men who are now accus-
toned to lunch near their places of busi-
ness will go home to their midday
meals
"And when will the system be put in
operationY
"Mr. Willard is attending to that. He
will soon have track for demonstration
ready in the vicinity of New York"