Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-08-09
MOTOR TO RUN BOATS
NEW ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE THAT
 WILL AID NAVIGATION.

Frank W. Hawley of Pittsford, N F., vice president of the Cataract Gen : eral Electric company, is we'll known as the first person to apply electricity to the propulsion of boats for commercial l purposes. The famous test which he made ill November, 1893, was so satis- factory that it became thereafter only 8 | question of time when the countless barges that float upon our great water ways would be propelled electrically, and when the canals would be lighted, the bridges turned and the locks opened by invisible force.
 | Mir. Hawley, i'll speaking of the out look for the speedy introduction of cleo tricity upon the canals of New York, re- l gently said:
 | Electrical propulsion of boats upon our inland waterways is now an assured l fact. Many tests have recently been made in search of the most practical and economical method of applying this en- ergy to the requirements of the canals. Perhaps the best plan yet made public is that which it is proposed to put in l operation upon the Erie canal. It is known as the cableway system and has | been heretofore used in the lumber dis tricts of North Carolina and for ferriage purposes to an extent that fully demon strates its feasibility.
 ''It may be briefly described as fol- 1 lows: A line of hollow steel poles is placed along each bank of the canal They are imbedded in cement and stand l 14 feet above the towpath. On top Of this pole line steel cable of great strength and measuring E inches in l diameter is strung. Resting on this ca ble is traveller, suspended from which is a car containing an electric motor and accommodations for motorman. A second cable, an inch in diameter, is l placed two feet below the first one. | This makes three turns about horizon | tai shaft with which the electric motor | is directly connected. Every movement of the motor in either direction turns the shaft and every revolution of the shaft moves the car along the lower ca | ble, the traveller moving along the upper | cable at the same time, and acting both l as support to the car and as trolley | for the transmission of the current to l the motor. This motor, of course, will be as easily operated as the motor of an l ordinary trolley car on street railway. 1 To this suspended cable trolley car may be attached towline from any boat or raft and in this way single craft or Q whole fleet may be moved along as rap idly as it is practicable to navigate the canal The current of electricity passes into the motor from the upper cable and is discharged from the motor over the lower cable, and in this way per feet metallic circuit is secured.
 sThis plan seems to meet the essen- tial requirements of a practical system of towing. Its operation will not tend to injure the banks. It does not require the purchase of any equipment by boat owners. 1t permits continuation of present methods by those who desire to use them. It tends to lessen greatly ex- pense and labor and is absolutely relia- ble. By it's aid products can be trans ported at fraction of the present cost. It will enable the canals hereafter to compete with the railways under most favorable conditions and render exorbi- tant freight rates a thing of the past. The electric power used will be general ed by the falls at Niagara.
 Ut is probable this system will soon be in use upon the Erie canal, thus af- fording to Chicago and the great west a cheap and speedy outlet to the sea for those vast and varied products which seek the seaboard by the shipping of the
 lakes
 But the introduction of electricity
 upon our waterways means far more
 than this. twill inaugurate canal re- | vival such as the world has never seen.
 Transportation by water is undeniably cheaper than by land, and with i'm proved facilities and more rapid transit they will naturally become the favored
 channel for the transmission of bulky
 merchandise and all articles not of 8
 perishable nature. The opening of the
 twentieth century will doubtless see the
 numerous canal lines now projected
 either completed or in process of exca- yation. Iexpect to see Lake Erie joined
 to Lake Michigan by waterway run
 ming from Toledo to Michigan City; to
 see Chicago's magnificent canal com pleted, furnishing highway for Amer ican shipping to the heart of the conti- nent; to see the Nicaragua undertaking accomplished by American enterprise
 and maintained by American protection,
 opening to the valley of the Mississippi
 new outlet for it's commerce into rich
 and hitherto unattainable regions.
 ''In all these great achievements cleo tricity will necessarily play an impor-
 tant part It can excavate the channels,
 propel the boats that pass along them
 and line the banks with shops and fac
 tories This wonderful force will speed
 fly usher in an age of magnificence, oi
 gigantic public works and stupendous
 undertakings, which the countries of the old world have scarcely attained to in
 the course of many centuries of civi.
 lization. "-Chicago Tribune.
 I Wrecked by the Falling Tide. The steamship Portland was wrecked t, sclo o.,A