The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1894-10-20
SCIENTIFIC MATTERS.
THE PROGRESS IN THE USEFUL
ARTS. .t

nv
Crucial Days in Electric Ratiroao-
fnE-The Action of Rifle Builets--
An Accurate Current Recorder.
The electric railroad is to-day part
and parcel of the material improve
ment of this country, and the rapldlty
and magnitude Of its extension IS one
il one of the most marvellous things IL
American history. America has no"
600 electric roads, which involve tie
installation Of 25,000 motors, ana an
investment of $3.50. 100000; and more
over the doom of the horse car is seal
ed. Yet, seven years ago, the fate OF
the electrical railway hung in the pai-
ance. The experiences of it's crucllal
DAYS are wildly described by Lieut..
Frank J. Sprague, whose name is III
separately connected with the lemon
stration of the feasibility and the pract-
cal succession of the electric railway
on the Richland, Va.) road. At that
time there were altogether perhaps Il
dozen electric railways of various types
in existence. None was satisfactory
and all were handicapped by their
experimental character. Capitalists,
car builders, railway officials and Ell
gineers looked askance at n new ran
gled idea of electric traction, and even
electricians were half-hearted and du-
bious about it. The electric motor was
regarded as Il piece of complicated ma
chinery of possibilities, that needed to
be carefully housed, and keenly Wa1ch-
ed. The ordinary condition or street
car service were pronounced an 1nsu-
perable obstacle to the self-propulslon
of IA car. and IL greater than + per cent
grade was declared to be p~roh1bltory.
The idea Of using $50 volts suggested
vague and fearful terrors OF torture
and death and a bare overhead wire
was dreaded like Il pestilence. In the
face of these conditions an electrical
came forward and entered
into a contract with a local railway
in the city of Richmond.
This contract was unique. 1t called
for the completion in ninety days or
the equipment of a road at that Tune
unlaid, and with a route determined
only in part. 1t provided for a COM
plete steam and electric plant of 37o
horsepower capacity, the furnishing
of forty cars with eighty motors ana
all appurtenances necessary for their
operation, and a complete overhead sys-
TEN. Thirty of the care were to be
operated at one time, and grades as
as 8 per cent to be assembled. 1t is
worthy of record, as showing the d;l-
mantine nerve of those electrical plon-
GERS. that at the time of making the
contract the company had only a blue
print of Il railroad machine and some
experimental motors. The thousand
details essential to success in pioneer
work were undetermined. After anX-
ious months of encouragement ana
perpetual conflict with new difficulties
the moment for testing the car up a
10 per cent grade arrived. In Lieut..
Spracue's words, arrived at the foot
of the hill, we stopped to survey the
enemy. When l expressed doubt or
the ability of the machines to make
the ascent, Burt said: If you can get
out of such a curve as that We just left
YOU a go up the side of a wall l
knew that even if we succeeded the
machine would probably be wrecked,
but there was nothing to do but to try
it, and so, putting on the current. we
steadily climbed up this hill, then an
other. and another round several
curves. fianlly reaching the highest
point in the heart of the city. But
the machines were now boiling hot,
and suddenly there was a peculiar
movement, then strange but after
wards very familiar, due to a crossed
armature, and I knew that we were
disabled. Not caring to confess seri-
Gus trouble. l told Greene in Il tone
that was audible to the crowd that
there was some slight disarrangement
of the circuits. that he had better 60
and get his Instruments. Meanwhile L
put out the lights and stretched out
in the bottom of tn car for Il rest.
The crowd dispersed and after a long
time, Greene returned with his in
struments'-four big powerful mules,
at that moment the most effective we
could get. We had settled once for
all the problem that with all the weight
of the car used for traction, a 10 per
cent grade could be assembled, but the
question which had next to be %grappled
with was how to make such an ascent
without wreck.ng the machines. This
involved innumerable changes, the
making of entirely new tools, and
weeks of delay. The labor entailed in
the various points of detail is suggest
ed by the fact that before the best
form of trolley was decided on, from
fifty to sixty designs were made and
tested. The behavior of fixed
brushes was another exasperating
source of trouble. 1t was a daily &C.
curance to see Il loaded ear climb a
grade with a ,urid green glare lighting
up the track. but with no possibility
of getting at it. although l knew that
500 worth of damage would be the re-
suit of the trip. About this time about
50 worth Of brass per day. milled OFF
by the rough bars of the cOmmutator,
lined the track with q glittering path,
and finally solid bars of brass set on
end were adopted. The work went OH
through the winter, and, at last, in
the spring of 1855, the triumph Of
Ecience. self-reliance and pluck wa
complete, and the Richmond electric
road was an engineering success. 1t
was II of the most notable victories
Of peace of the century, and electri-
clans are always proud to recall the
story of Sprague and the Richmond
Road
The Action of Rife Bullets.
Some important observations on the
effect Of modern rifle bullets have been
published by Prof. Dubois Raymond,
the celebrated Psychologist. A CON-
yo Y.o Z v,1 n-,,J 1.-I r ~ .G@