People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1893-06-02
FASTER THAN THE BIRDS.
One Hundred and Twelve and One-half
Miles per Hour.


stage-coach as a means of passenger
transit, its velocity was naturally a
matter Of wonder and comment. We
read in the books of that period of
the great speed of fifteen or even
twenty miles az hour being attained
by the locomotives. Under the con-
ditions of the day sach a speed was
no trifie. The loosely coupled cars,
with inefficient springs, ratified along
over the imperfect rails and roadbed.
The engine filed the air with sparks
and cinders, which drifted into the
cars and made life miserable for the
passengers. The rails on which the
cars moved were made Of wooden
beams, along which strips Of IRON
were spiked. Sometimes the end Of
one Of these strips became loosened,
and bending upward over the wheel
into "snake heads" would be driven
through the floor Of the car into some
unfortunate passenger with fatal
results.
The contrast between the old and
the new was wildly brought out IN
the exhibit prepared by the New
York Central Railroad for the Worlds
Columbian Exposition. In our issue
Of last week we showed the two eX-
tremes of railroad engineering in the
State of New York. The De Witt
Clinton Of 1881 stands alongside Of
the New York Central engine No.
800 Of 1793-the pigmy beside the
giant The great dimensions OF en-
CINE 800 were not all that entitled it
to respect.
The engine drawing a regular train
of cars on the track OF the New Y ork
Central road has surpassed the speed
of any object propelled by man short
of a projectile. The speed of the
wind in the most powerful gales has
been equaled, and the flight Of the
swiftest bird through the air has been
surpassed. The mile record for To-
comotive engine on Tuesday, May g.,
was reduced by it to IS seconds.
With grim humor the engineer said
of the machine, she was not feeling
her best, although she gave a new
worlds record. On May 10, between
the cities of Batavia and Buffalo, a
lcW speed test was made. Batavia
was passed at Il speed of sixty miles
an hour. This was increased until a
mile was run in thirty-tive seconds,
and soon after a mile was made in
thirty-two seconds. For some dis
lance a rate almost as great was main
tanned.
This speed, subjected to analysis,
reveals the greatness Of the achieve
ment. In every second of its pro
gress the engine covered a distance
of 1G5 feet. This is the velocity
which body falling in a vacuum
would acquire in fall of 425 feet
In other words, if the engine could
have had its course DETECTED to a
vertical one, without loss of velocity,
it would have been thrown to this
height A man at his best can run
ut q speed of 30 feet per second for
few seconds at a time. His best long
Jump is about % feet. With train
running at the velocity of 1853 feet,
it seems as if the old stories of trains
jumping chasms or running over
bridges too weak to support them
might be realized.
There arc certain landmarks set
for speed achievements by our i'm
agiuatioLs. The even time" of ten
seconds Tor one hundred yards has
been surpassed by a running man.
The bicycIist it is claimed has sur
passed his "evGn time" of a mile
in two minutes, and aided by ball
bearings and pneumatic tires the
trotting horse drawing suIky is APP
preaching the same figures. The
carrier pigeon, with only aerial fric-
ton to contend against, approaches a
speed OF a mile in one minute. The
running horse may yet reach a record
of a mile in minute and a half.
Engine 900 has already established
her goal. 1t is a mile in thirty sec
ouds, and it is believed that she will
soon reach it.
The achievement means a great
deal The advocates of flying ma
chimes speak of a possible speed of
sixty or perhaps hundred miles an
hour. Recent experiments with di-
rect-geared electric motors have indi-
Gated the possibility Of speed of one
hundred and twenty miles an hour.
Atmospheric resistance at this rate
begins to be taken INTO account as an
important factor.
Geo. Westinghouse, Jr., a recog-
nized authority on the subject, has
shown the difficulties in bringing fast
trains to a stop and in reducing their
speed on emergencies. He depicts the
many troubles to be encountered in
running trains at the rate of ninety
miles an hour. In the face of all this
the great engine of the Columbian
Exposition, while still new, while
drawing a regular passenger train,
and without any special preparation,
runs at the rate Of 1l25 miles an hour.
1t is a striking instance Of theory and
practice brought face to face.
NIL Dooo,+ po0t- EoiIurac