Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1893-07-06
FIVE nUSDRgD MILES AN RoUR
An Aerial Electric Railway Claimed Co
Accomplish Wonders in Speed.

An Aerial Electric Railway Claimed Co
Accomplish Wonders in Speed.
New York Recorder
Speaking seriously, one who would
propose to transfer parcel or letter
from New York to San Francisco in
eight hours, causing it to traverse the
intervening 1000 miles at speed Of 800
miles an hour would be considered by
most persons to be highly Imaginative
or grossly unyeracious. Yet this seem
ingly impossible task is precisely what
Albert Leslie Widdis of Detroit, pro-
fesses to be able to accomplish with his
recently invented aerial electric railway.
Railway men IRE marveling much at
the fast train, the Exposition Flyer"
that covers the 1000 or so miles of track
between New York and Chicago in just
20 hours, but Mr.. Widdis AYERS that by
means of his system of transportation a
letter can be delivered in New York
within two hours after being mailed in
Chicago. This would be practical
humiliation Of space, and Mr. Widdis
is satisfied that it is entirely feasible. So
confident is he Of the ultimate success
OF his invention that he has taken out
letters patent on it, and will construct
near Detroit q test line for illustrating
his aerial railway In operation.
Reduced to its simplest terms, Mr..
Widdis' rapid transit device, model OF
which is now on exhibition ut the
Worlds Fair, is an elevated railway
with electricity as its propulsiye force,
In uetail of construction aud mechanism
and nice adjustment of parts with q
view to decrease of friction and to in
crease of speed, the inventor has brought
out some yaluble original ideas in both
electricity and mechanics, and has recast
older discoveries into new and more USE
full forms. The result of these combina-
tions. Is, Mr.. Widdis contends, car that
can be driven forward at 500 miles an
hour and yet be perfectly under control,
as to speed and disposition of cargo, of
an operator stationed at any point on
the line. The primary purpose of this
new scheme of transportation is to carry
mail and express matter, fruits and per-
ishable freight By ingenious devices
the cars can be made to stop, set their
brakes and deliver their loads or any por-
ton automatically at any desired point.
In appearance the car designed by
MIR. Widdis resembles a long, square
box, terminating at one end In pyra-
midal projection running to sharp
point. This is the forward end OF the
car and is intended to pierce the air at
tremendous speed, with minimum of
resistance. The car is suspended by iron
hangers from four wheels two feet six
inches in diameter, which in turn rest
on q single bar of ordinary railway t.
rail stretched on arms projecting from a
line OF poles arranged exactly like tele-
graph poles. The patent cash carriers in
use In many large shops closely resemble
the method of suspension from a single
rail employed by Mr.. Widdis. Below
this Trail is another of the / pattern,
which serves at once as o guide and
support ana which prevents the wheels
from leaving the main track. In the
centre OF the car is specially designed
electric motor of exceeding lghtness
and power that drives by means Of
sprockct wheels and link belts the
driving wheels above. The current to
operate this motor is taken from q wire
strung above the track by trolley
wheel much after the manner of the
ordinary electric street car. The electric
power is to be applied from dynamo
stations at points along the route. Very
little electrical force is required. It Is
estimated that 11-horse power will pro!
pei 1,000-pound car with its load at
the rate of 500 miles an hour. s
Where the car is to be used for the
carriage of mail matter no stoppage Is
needed for the delivery of the mail bags
at their proper stations. In the mail
car, which is bottomless, each mail bag
rests on shelf or platform which
can be moved up or down by lever
that projects from it through the side Of
the car. As the car whizzes by a station
this lever strikes against an arm extend
ing from post set up by the track, the
shelf is depressed, the mail bag falls to
the ground or ON the platform of the
station or into net, while tine car flies
on, and the shelf, released from the
action of the lever, returns automatic
cally TO its former position, ready for
another load. When IL is desired to
shunt cars from the main line to lateral
branch the @ame principle is used to
open and Close the switches. These de-
vices render the system almost auto.
matte in its operation.
The advantages claimed for this new
method OF transportation are: First,
speed which can be easily forced up to
800 miles an hour; second, safety, be-
cause the track being elevated accidents
are impossible; third, economy, the first
cost of the elevated track being small
and the repairs nearly nothing, while
the cars can be built for $500 apiece.
The inventor 10 confident that his appli-
cation of electricity to transportation of
mail and light freight is success and
will be generally adopted.
Mr.. Widdis asserts that there are no
inherent difficulties in his system. The
great speed will not result, he says, in
the generation of heat in either car or
the bearings of the wheels. Engine 500,
Of the New York Central railway, re,
Gently ran 100 miles an hour, and the
journals, though carrying the fifty tons
weight of the ponderous machine, did
not become oyerheated. The extremely
small burdens on the journals of the
aerial electric road would lessen i'm.
measurably the chances of heat by fric-
ton. Metal for Journal bearings e tenn
pered SO that it will stand a speed of
1900 revolutions minute, whereas the
speed OF 500 miles an hour by the aerial
electric car would require less than {, 900
revolutions per minute of its two foot
six inch driving wheels. The point of
contact between the wheels and rails
being changed with rapidity almost
uncomfortable, there would be no danger
from heat by friction. A cannon ball
travels with an initial velocity of 100
to 1900 feet per second, or about 1900
miles an hour and does not heat, and SO
there can be no possibility of the electric
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