Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1891-11-12
EDIsoN's LATEST.
With His New Electric Motor Device 100
Miles an Hour Will Be Attained.

| A1Aco an hOQI Will DC Attaluoo
New York Herald: Thomas A. Edi-
son, the electrical wizard, has Just
completed two inventions before the
wonderful and far-reaching results of
which all his other remarkable discov-
cries are comparatively Insignificant.
One isthe practical application of
electricity to great railroad lines, by
which speed far beyond anything
ever achieved by steam may be
attained, and the other the appliCa-
tion OF electricity to the propulsion
of street cars without the use of the
dangerous. unsightly, and inconven-
lent overhead construction.
For two years Mr.. Edison has been
engaged on experiments in this direc-
ton. He has met with almost insu-
perable difficulties, but he has stuck
to his work with that dogged perti-
nacity for which he is famous, and at
last he has been successful.
The general principle of the street.
car invention is that the electric cur
rent passes down through one line of
rails, Is picked up by the car, passes
through the motor beneath it, and
goes out on the other side and returns
through the other line of rails to the
central power station.
At the first thought the bare idea OF
this is paradoxical. The question
will naturally occur why the elect ric
current does not dIssipate itself in the
ground. To this no positive reason
can be assigned except the bare state
ment that it does not. In general
terms the effect is accomplished by
having the current one OF low voltage
or pressure 1t is well-settled princi-
pie of electrical research that the
higher the voltage the greater must be
the insulation, and that the lower the
voltage can be brought the less need
of insulation. Mr.. Edison's expert
ments have all been in this direction
that is to say, in the endeavor to
construct q motor sufficiently power
full to do the work, in which the volt
age was reduced to so low a point
that the natural tendency of the cleo
trio current to fly off to the ground
and be dissipated would be overcome,
and the passage through the motor to
the opposite rail would he easier for
the current than to pass through the
ground to the central station.
The plan OF having a central rail tor
the return current was experimental
on for long time, but when the motor
had been perfected so that it work
efficiently Mr.. Edison found that he
could dispense with the central rail
and return the current directly to the
station through the opposite rail.
The experiments were conducted at
the great laboratory at West Orange.
Here an experimental track, nearly a
quarter of mile long, was construct
ed through the laboratory yard down
to the yard of the Edison Phonograph
works. In its length it presented all
the various kinds of difficulties that
actual use would encounter. A part
of it was laid on a very heavy grade
of nearly three hundred feet to the
mile, there are several sharp curves to
the road, and a portion of it runs
through a sunken spot where the track
could be flooded with water or COW
cred with mud. In this way all the
varying conditions of actual use were
provided.
The experiments have now been
fully completed, and the invention
passes out of the first experimental
stage into the second stage, it's adapt
alton to practical work. The expert
ments have been made by Mr.. Edison
for the Edison Electric company, and
until MI. Edison has turned the inven-
ton over to that company for actual
work the minute details of the inven-
tion are of necessity withheld from
the public. Enough, however, has
| ~ . l,x, ,al,a n ,f ha
invention. The voltage of the current
will be, as has been said, very low, less
than 100, while the average voltage OF
OF 500. From this it will be seen how
great a revolution the new invention
will effect in the whole matter of cleo
trio traction. Several prominent
horse railroad systems have offered
their lines to the Edison General Elec-
trio company for the Introduction OF
the invention, and it is probable that
n selection will be made i'm the near
future and arrangements made to put
the first practical experimental line In
operation.
The most remarkable feature of the
invention is in the "pick ups" that
take the current from one line OF rails.
A novel and ingenius mechanism has
been SO arranged that it will work
with perfect certainty and effect
through six inches OF mud or slush or
water.
Mr. Edison's other great discovery
is to obviate the difficulty met IN the
attainment of high speed on the ordi-
nary steam railway, which is the in
reference OF steam, The injection
and exhaust OF the steam into and
from the cylinders is SO rapid in its al
formation that beyond a certain limit
it is impossible to work, and this is
an inherent defect in all steam propul-
sion because of the necessity OF the
conversion OF reciprocating motion
into rotary motion. In the new elec-
trio motor this difficulty vanishes,
and the limit of speed is only that OF
the endurance of the machinery and
the strength of the tracks.
With the invention of Mr.. Edison a
speed OF 100 miles or more an hour
will be more easily attainable than
the ordinary speed of fifty to sixty
miles an hour. This is also in the
hands of the Edison General Electric
company, and negotiations are now
in progress for the application OF the
system to one OF the long lines OF rail
way.