The record-union., 1892-08-23
''COMPRESSED AIR FOR STREET
CARS.o

General Haupt, G. E., contributes to
the Engineering Magazine valuable pa
per on this subject. After all, may we
not have passed by motive power for
street railway cars that is as cheap or
cheaper than cable or trolley, and less OBJ
Jectionable than either?
1t is not new, nor is it novel, this use of
compressed air engines for street rail-
ways. 1t has been tried and for months,
and, General Haupt claims. with entire
success. New Orleans tried it, in a bung-
ling way however, and we are not sure
that even under adverse conditions it
did not prove successful there.
According to the paper referred to, on
the basis of passengers carried in New
York, the cost per year per passenger
was almost double by horsepower COM
pared to the use of the pneumatic motor.
These points are made: That 1000 will
furnish a plant that will charge one car
minute; that there are with pneumatic
power neither noise, ashes nor smoke;
no danger of explosion unless at the
time Of charging; no waste of power, and
that at speed of twelve miles an hour
car can be stopped in its own length.
Also, the motors act as their own gov
ernors; they are charged without being
housed or the car being taken in: stiff
grades can be climbed; the compressed
air can be transmitted any distance with
out loss of friction.
General Haupt declares that he was
called on to investigate the matter
by proposed investors in 1879, and he
found that the power is practicable
for street railroads; cheaper, safer and
in all respects better than any other
then used. Overwhelmingly sou he
adds. He says that the only thing that
was raised in objection was the fear
that cars without horses would frighten
teams, and thus cause accidents. but the
objection applies with greater force to
either electricity or cable propulsion.
In both cases the fear has been proved to
be groundless.
General Haupt says that the objection
served to stifie the enterprise, though five
cars were run on an avenue line in New
York for many months with perfect sue
cess. 1t was proved that car could be
run for ten miles on level road with $50
cubic feet of air in the reservoirs. under
an initial pressure of $50 pounds. In de-
scending grades the motor cylinders acted
as brakes, and also as air-pumps. and in
part recharged the reservoirs-thus. in
running 2,l00 feet air was pumped back
against 200-pound pressure sufficient to
raise the gauge pressure seven pounds.
The engineer also points out that while
there can be no gain in electricity or
cable power, duty of 90 per cent. is Sc
cured from expansion and utilization of
dry air in COMPRISING over steam mo-
tors, and four times the power if station
airy compounded or condensing engines
are US ed, with given cost of fuel. which
more than counterbalances the loss in
compression.
For suburban roads General Haunt
thinks the pneumatic system will, on
trial, prove greatly superior to electricity
or cable. Thus, an eight-ton motor will
draw three cars on level road, and with
full power in the motor cylinders and
full adhesion on the rails can overcome
grade of 500 feet to the mile, and that the
speed on suburban roads can be main
tanned at twenty miles an hour.
Such statements from practical man
who has looked into the subject may
revive the interest in pneumatic motors
as factors in the rapid transit question,
which is agitating nearly all cities as they
expand. 1t is just possible that COM
pressed air may yet rise up as rival to
electricity as a motive power. That its
claims have been dropped is, in General
Haupt's opinion, "inexplicable"
We shall probably hear now from some