Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-03-22
RUN By AMMONIA.
Exhibitien Of New style Of Motor for ssr,sl
Cara.

Exhibition Of . New style Of Motor for sezSst
| Cara.
From the New York Times
| The Railway Ammonia Motor COMPANY. which
has Offices in the Drexel building, gave an ex.
hibition Of its system Of running street carr
yesterday afternoon. The motor this company
uses was invented by P. J. Mcmahon, formerly
q chief engineer in the navy,
The cars run by ammonia motors look very
much like ordinary street cars except that they
stand somewhat higher from the ground, being
reached by two steps and have what looks like
q long box attached to the bottom, running
from platform to platform. The wheels on each
side are connected by q bar, like those on q
steam locomotive, and by another bar with .
piston. which is hidden from view. At each end
OF the car 10 . sort Of "cowcatcher" arrange
ment which has . little platform . few
inches wide around its edge and comes to q
point in front.
The plant for charging the cars is simple.
The company has a temporary one at 1876 West
2oth street, where yesterdays trials started.
The ammonia is first evsporated. and after the
water has thus been removed from it, it is
passed through a coil Of pipes. over which cold
water is sprayed. 1t is thus reduced to q liquid
called anhydrous ammonia, which is collected
In big tank, from which it is drawn into q
rounded with an outer box containing hot
water.
To generate the power the anhydrous ammo
mia Is heated to about 90. and a. the LIQUID
will boil in the air at $50 below zero the
heat develops pressure of $50 pounds. This
pressure works q piston in the same way Is
steam.
Enough ammonia can be stored on an ordi-
nary car to run it for seventy miles over sn
average road. When one charge is exhausted
another can be put in very quickly. Mr..
Mcmahon reckoned the cost OF running q car
with his system at cent q mile.
The sample car was taken out and run up and
down couple Of blocks of the unused tracks
on 2sth street from 9th avenue west, in yes
terday's experiments.
How quickly can you stop it?" asked one Of
the visitors.
"Oh, when it's going eight miles an hour
can stop 1t in about nine feet" answered Henry
Graham, the secretary OF the company, who
was doing the honors. "Why, I ran it up and
down in the shed here. where there are twenty-one
feet OF track, several times the other day, and
never used the brake once. Just reversed. See
here"
Mr.. Graham started the car. Two seconds
more and he was wildly turning on the machin-
cry that reversed the motor. There was q loud
crash and the "cowcatcher'' poked itself
through the closed door out on to the sidew walk
The power was shut Of just in time to save the
whole front OF the building from going.
HALF an hour later the car tried to treat q
truck on 7th avenue IN the same way.
Two cars similar to the one used Yesterday
are now being experimental with in Manches-
ter, England, and are reported as working sue
cesefully. A car will probably be tested on one
of the city lines soon. To avoid all possibility
Of passengers being annoyed by the pungent
and disagreeable odor that was noticeable yes
terday the company is having a sixteen-foot
car built, which will merely carry the motor.