The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1891-11-26
EOiSON'S LATEST MARVELS.
Remarkable EiectricMotor Devices for
Railroads and Street-Car Lines.

WlZaru, mas Just completed TWO lu-
yenlions before the wonderful and far
reaching results of which all other re-
markable discoveries are compara-
lively insignificant, says the New York
Herald
One is the practical application of
electricity to great railroad lines. by
which speed far beyond anything
achieved by steam may be attained.
and the other the application of elec-
tricky 10 the propulsion of street-cars
without the use of the dangerous, un-
slightly. and inconvcnient overhead
construction.
TIE general principle of the street
car invention is that the electric cur
rent passes down through one line of
raiis. 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.
Ar the first thought the bare idea of
this is paradoxical. The question will
naturally occur why the electric cur
rent docs 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 a well-settled prin
ciple 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.. Elison's experiments
have all been in this direction-that is
to say. in the endeavor to construct Il
motor sufficiently powerful to do the
work. in which the voltage was re-
duCad 10 SO low a point that the nat
ural tendency of the electric current
to is off to the ground and be dissi-
patel would be overcome, and passage
through the motor to the opposite rail
would be easier for the current than to
pass through the ground to the central
station.
The plan of having n central rail for
the return current was eXDerimcnted
on for long time. but when the motor
had been perfected 50 that it would
work efficiently Mr.. Edison found that
he could dispense with the central rail
and return the current directly to the
oh't''Sh Ct- h''N OPl'O1ibS s'ii.
The experiments were conducted at
Here an experimental track, nearly
quarter of Il mile long was construct
ell through the laboratory yard down
to the yard of the Edison phonOgraph-
works. In lis length it presented all
the various kinds of difficulties that
actual use would encounter A part
of it was laid on Il very heavy grade of
neaify 800 feet 10 the mile, there are
several sharp curves in the road.
aud II portion of it runs through Il
Sunken spot where the track could be
flooded with water or covered with
mud. In this way all the varying. con-
diti0ns ef factnal use were provided.
The experiments have now been full
ly completed and the invention passes
out of the first experimental stage into
the second stage. its adaptation TO
practical work. The voltage of the
current employed will be, as has been
said. very low. less than 100 while tn
average voltage of the overhead trolly
system is in excess of 800. From this
it will be seen how great revolution
the new invention will effect in the
whole. matter of electric traction. Sew
erai prominent horse railroad systems
have o.fercd their lines for the intro
duction OF the invention, and it is pos
Siblc that Il selection will be made in
the near future and arrangements
made to pat the first practical expert
mental line in operation.
The most remarkable feature of the
invention is in tie pick ups" that
take the current from one line of rails
A novel and ingenious mechanism has
been SO arranged that it will work
with perfect certainty and effect
six inches OF mud or slush or
water.
Mr.. + lison's other discovery is to
obviate the difficulty met in the attain
ment of high speed OH the ordinary
steam railway. which is the interfer-
encc of steam. The injection aud eX-
haust of the steam into and from the
cylinders is so rapid in its alienation
that beyond a certain limit it is impo5-
sible TO work, and this is an inherent
defect in all steam propulsion because
of the necessity of the conversion of
reciprocating motion into rotary mo-
tion. In the new electric 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 this invention of Mr.. Edison
speed of 100 miles or more an hour
will be more easily attainable than the
ordinary speed of fifty or sixty miles
an hour. Negotiations are now in
progress for the application of the svs-
TEN to one of the long lines of rail-
way.