The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-05-12
BY A STORAGE BATTERY.
INIEaE3TINa fists OF A NEW
STREET CAR MOTOR

PHILADELPHIA, May 1O.-A new elec.
trical storage battery. with a motor de-
signed for especial use In street cars. vas
tested ct Germantown to-day ia the pres-
snce OF several electrical engineers. They
pronounced the tests satisfactory. The
machinery is the patent Of J. B. Eutz. W.
A. Phillips and Montgomery WaddelI of
New York, all Of whom were for some years
connected with the Edison Manufacturing
Company.
MIR. Entz, who was the leading spirit in
the study Of the subject Is the inventor of
the dyDamos recently adopted by the
government for its cruisers. The inventors
have been making private tests Of street
car machinery for about year, and al
though no hint at the fact has been made
public, a car equipped with the new
machinery has been in use for three months
on the Brooklyn and Coney Island road.
About q month ago a car was put in
operation on the line running from Second
street to the Lehigh road near German
town junction. Nothing was said of the
nature Of the machinery that was in it until
to-day, when the tests were made. The
storage battery and the motor the inventors
say, are especially adapted to street
car use. The experiments are interesting
because they are calculated to show one
principle which some of the engineers
said had not been put in practice before.
namely, the conversion OF a motor into
dynamo, which by the momentum of the
machinery 1t runs and by the force of grav-
Ity on down grades helps To recharge the
battery, which is the moving force, without
loss Of electrical energy. This was done to-
day. The detailed descriptions Of the cleo.
trical currents was still kept secret because
some questions involving patent rights are
not yet settled.
The battery is ranged under the car seats.
A single motor over the front axle was
used in to-day's experiments, and the re-
suits were considered satisfactory. The
battery is designed to Withstand the sudden
shock incident to q sudden change or stop
page Of current without injury 1t is en-
tirely different from the storage batteries
heretofore in use, both in the materials
used and the action of the chemicals. The
so-called lead batteries have oxide and per-
oxide Of lead as the poles, and they are i'm
mersed in an acid solution, sulphuric acid
being most commonly used. The battery
used to-day has no lead about it, aud the
solution in which the plates are placed is
alkaline instead of acid. The positive pole
copper and the negative iron. The liquid
is solution containing zinc and potassium.
A battery strong enough to work q car is
composed Of from ninety to hundred cells.
Each cell contains eight positive and mega
tive plates, and each is inches wide,
broad and deep.
The positive pole, as it appears in fin
ished battery, looks like piece of white fuse
folded into the form of a gridiron. On the
outside Is layer Of cotton insulation. Just
within this is a cylinder of fine wire netting
woven closely enough to held layer OF
packing of particles Of copper. Within
this packing is the core Of this miniature
cable, 4 small copper wire.
The liquid easily soaks through the cot
ton and comes into contact first with the
wire netting, then soaks the copper particles
and at last surrounds the wire, the object
in this arrangement Of copper being to ex-
pose to the acUion Of the liquid the greatest
possible surface Of the copper. Fifteen feet
of this flexible copper cable is folded into
each plate, and the whole Is attached to a
larger copper wire which connects with the
iron frame OF the next cell. The negative
pole is simply piece Of sheet iron, perfo-
rated, to get a largo exposure, and bent
once around the insulated copper plate.
The cell walls are made of sheet-lron and
form portion of the negative pole of the
battery, and would be sufficient to generate
a considerable current without the adj
ditionsl plate, which is used simply to get
larger exposure. Into this cell is poured
solution strongly saturated with potassium
and zinc. The cell is then ready to be
charged. 1t is attached to the dynamo in
the power house and current
is passed through it. The chem
ical action begins; the copper particles are
oxidized, and upon the sides of the cell and
the iron plates zinc IS deposited from the
solution. That is all there is to it. There
are no fumes and no vapors rising. When
the cell has been charged the circuit is
broken, a little oil is poured in to prevent
evaporation, and the electrical energy is
stored for use when wanted.
When the batteay is in use the chemical
action is reversed. The copper becomes de-
oxidized and the zinc is eaten off the iron
surface. 1t Is a simple process, and repeti-
ton, it is said, does not injure the original
poles. Those used to-day have been in use
for nine months. They were examined on
Saturday, and to all appearances, were as
good as the day the battery was first
charged. Sudden changes of current can-
not twist the wire SO as to bring contact
within the cell, for the cotton prevents
this
The motor, which is patented, was de.
Eigned especially for street-car work. 1t is
a new type Of Gramme ring machine
With the current used it Is impossible to
burn out the ormature, and the number of
revolutions per minute is so low that no
Intermediate gearing is needed. The
armature is large, which gives a strong
AoNoIdEos ~ was Sp0euou LO-uhy 10 SOU OF
800 revolutions of the shaft per minute,
which il about five to one as compared
with the average revolutions of car wheel
going at ten miles an hour. The motor is
designed for a twenty-horse power ma
chine, but may be brought up TO twice
that.
The inventors said that the car could be
stopped by this regulator without the use
OF brakes. 1t was done. The car was go
ing at the rate of nine miles an hour, the
engineer said. He reversed the action.
Inc car came to standstill in precisely its
own length. The brakes were idle at the
Time. This was severe change for the
oettery-stopping its entire action in an in
seant. The battery was uncovered and very
slight fumes came up. The condition of the
plates were unchanged.
by means of this regulator, when the car
Is running at low rate of speed it may be
stopped and backed, it was claimed, and
TINS was done, the engineer running it back
ward and forward across the carhouse fif-
teen or twenty times without moving from
MS position in one end Of the car. 1t is
argued for this form of electrical motive
power that the machinery is light, that it is
eSIe, aud that it is under perfect control.
Inc car used to-day weighed little over
hve tons, which was said to be four tons
hghter than a car of the same capacity
equipped with lead batteries. Each cell
weighs 20 pounds and with 80 cells the
weight Of the battery is 2.6l0 pounds.