The Bessemer indicator., 1893-05-13
THE TROLLEY SYSTEM.
DsserIptios Of PhiisdelphiA's First Ilso-
trio Railway.

Description OF FhuadeIpRlAs tirat 3Ieo-
trio Railway.
When we recall to mind the bitter
light waged In Philadelph,s sgainss
.ha introduction OF the electric csS II
Is difiical. to believe that electric
cars are actually Carrying passengers
on Catharine and Bainbridgs streets.
The electric power station Of this
line 10 situated at the corner Of 6uth-
erland avenue and Kansas street. and
is brick building III feet long by
seventy-thrce feet deep. The fool 70
supported by wooden trusses. abd
provision has been made In the en-
gine-room for the installation Of Q
travelling crane. An iron smoke-
stack. 1875 feet high. surmounts the
building. The iron part is six feet
three inches in diameter and lo5 feet
high, supported on t. rast-iron frano.
securely bolted to the br!ck- bar,
The stac6 Is supported by wrought
iron tie rods at the base directly to
the foundation bolts.
The steam plant consists Of six bor-
izoptal return tubular stoel boilers
and three single cylinder engines.
The boilers are seventy-two inches
in diameter and twenty feet long and
designed for working pressure OF
100. The main ,lue is located In roar
OF boilers. The water is supplied By
two sx6xl0 inch duplex feed pumps
and two No 10 iniectors. The cylin-
ders are twenty-five inches in diane
ter and forty-eight inches stroke.
with a speed of seventy-cight revolu-
,ions per minute.
Provision has been made to enabl.
the plant to run condensing whenever
desired, says Electricity.
The main feature OF the steam pip
ing is that any boiler can be CON
ncctcd with an engine, thereby
incurring the least liability OF shut
down due to repairs. The pipes from
the boilers are carried TO twelve
inch main under the engine-roon
floor, and from there TO the engines.
All piping is OF wrought-iron with
screwed cast.lron fanges and calkcd.
The generators are of the four-pole
Westinghouse type, 1856 l1ilowatts
capacity, running at 525 revolution:
per minute. The pole pieces are ot
special laminated iron and attached
to g cast-iron frame by special pro-
cess when mcldina, Tho field mag
nets are wound with four series
windings in parallel. Tho sblnt
fields are all in series.
The generators are bclted to the
engine by thirty-two inch cottor
leather belt running over a stationary
idler. Tho dynamos are controlled
from a vertical iron frame switch.
board. All tho instrume nts are
mounted on white marble bases.
The bus bars run along back of tho
switchboard, and from these the feed.
crs are run to vault where CON
ncction is made with the underground
system.
All feeders arc placed underground
Tho conduit system consists Of n
wrought-iron shell JIG inch thick,
made of wrought iron rivetei and
lined with S-l6 inch of concrete
These pipes are laid in concrete two
feet below the street pavement,
The feedcrs Of ooo0 lead covered
cables, two for each conduit ani gre
run into junction boxes,
The overhead system Is wcIl built
Tho poles are of wrought iron and
the span and guard wires ara o!
silicon bronze. All feeder spans Gre
provided with extra insulators, there,
by giving triple insulation aud re
ducing the leakage to minimum.
The trolley wire is No. 0 hard-drawr
copper, secured to the insulators by
soldercd clips. Two No G guard
wires are placed eighteen inches
above the trolley wire and three
feet apart.
The rail used is nine y-pound
side-bearing rail, nine and one-halt
inches high. These rails are bonded
at every ioint with No, iron wire,
and are cross bonded every ninety
feet.
A special testing-room has been
provided in small isolated building
for testing the insulation of the under.
ground system. The insulation Of
the longest feeder, two and one hall
miles in length, shows 800 megohms
per mile.
The length Of the entire route is
I five and one-half miles. for which the
schedule time OF round trips forty
four minutes. There are sixteen cars
at present In operation on the line.