Omaha daily bee., 1895-12-15
THE FIELD OF ELECTRICITY
Prospective ABB sdonment Of Mule Power on
the Erie Canal,
TEST OF The TRAVELLING TROLLEY
Great sn,inR ain cost ana tue speed
increnspd-1bc storage nnttcry
Forging to the Eront-Othcr
DoS clopmcntS.

The development Of electrical power APP
planes, coupled with the voting of s9,OOO,ooo
for the deepening and otherwise improving
the Eris canal. ars destined to revolutionizC
the means Of traction, as well as the traffic
OF New York's great canal. The money 10
be expended by the state Will increase the
depth Of the canal by three feet. making 1T
nine. instead Of six feet. Stone walls are
to be built where the banks wash, new locks
are to be put in. and other improvements
made. all of which will substantially increase
the utility of the canal as a commercial
highway. These improvements are rendered
necessary by reason of development of cleo
trical power, which will at an early day sup
plant the mule on the tow path.
With an abundance of power ready for use
at Niagara Falls. electric skill has bsen en-
gagged in developing devic.a to apply Il TO
moving of canal boats. Various devices have
been brought out and tried, but were aban-
doned because applied to screws or paddles.
which caused too great d wssh Of the canal
banks. Another plan was tested recently,
and results obtained justify the claim that
the days Of the mule as a canal motor are
numbered. This system, as adapted to canal
purposes, requires the erection of a line Of
poles on either bank of the canal. These
are placed 1875 feet apart and stand sixteen
feet above ground. Upon them is strung a
cable of great strength. which bears upon
1t a traveller carrying an electric motor and
a motorman. Three feet below the upper
cable is placed a smaller one, which makes
three turns about a horizontal shaft oper-
ated by the electric motor. The whole bur
den of the traveller and motor. together with
most OF the strain eXerted in towing a fleet
of canal boats, is upon the upper cable. The
lower cable, Together with the shaft, fur
niShe9 the actual motive power. The motor
man operates the equipment In very much
the same way that a trolley car is operated.
Inc electricity is communicated to the motor
through the upper cable, and Is DISCHARGED
from the motor through the medium of the
lower one. The Soatmen have only to throw
thelr lines TO the mCtorman. and they will
be promptly carried to their destination. Any
desirable rate of speed can be attained.
The experimental line was 1.21 miles long.
ana the motor lowed a largs canal beat, h2av-
lily laden with invited guests, up the canal,
against wind and current, at the rate Of three
ard three-fiths miles per hour. In the run
down five lo2lsd beats were lowed at tle
rate of four and seven-tenths miles pr hour.
The cost of this systsm compared with mule
power is thus get forth by a writer in Les
iicH: 1T now costs IL. cents per mile pr
morse or mule boa. propulsion in the Erie
canal or $42.24 per beat for the 352 miles
from Buffalo tc Albany. Allowing a rate not
to eXce5d two miles an hour, in the preJsnt
canal. the cost Of electrical power will not
exceed S1.97 per boat from Buffalo to Albany.
1t costs not less than 8 cents a mile per boat
a: present by steam power, or $17. 60 from
BIffa!o to Albany. as compared with $7.97
by electricity, This IS m on twenty
horsepower per boa', which was the amount
required to tow tbs six Cleveland steel
canal boats at the rate OF three miles an
hour. and. moreover, it is statsd that an
electrical horsepower is about SO per cant
stronger than a steam horsepower.
The voters Of the state having approved
| II Tho Vacant nnk;n ~ lEI -
canals, three miles an hour win be practi-
cable in the Erie canal. and with even less
horsepower thany!s now~reQuired. Making;
NJ r%luctiFn@iHf he~present required horse
power, however. the cost per boat will thcl
be 80 per cent less than at present. or but
1881 from Buffalo to Albany. This will effect
a saving of IS per cent to horse and mula
boatmen. and 20 per cent to steam boatmen
below present cost. 1t is more than likely
that light boats can be moved from Albany
to Buffalo at the rate of six miles an hour.
and Will no more power than is now re
CURED, ana for only half the time, thus eff
fec ing a still further saving in the improved
canal Of so re- cent, or making it possible to
tow a light boat from Albany to Buffalo for
81. 66.
The effect rDon canal transportation that
such savings viii accomplish is inconcsivable.
1t will not only revolution.ze canal trans
portation methods, but will effect enormous
reductions and afford such an increase Of
trips as to probably belittle any prediction as
TO benefits wh!1h may az this time be made"
THE STORAGE BATTERY.
The electric storage battery, in whose de-
velopmsnt lies The hope of emancipation from
electric light wires. trolley wires and other
uno.ghtly obstructions, has reached a point OF
perfection, as shown by an exhibit in Phi,a-
delphia, which makes It a commercial posi-
bllty, and promises a large extension of TIL
usefulness CT electricity in everyday life.
With a further development in the direction
OF cheapness, ii may be possible to reproduce
IN towns unprovided with cheap means of
motive power the conditions existing in Great
Falls, Mont. In that town electric power
produced economically at a water privilege
doe1 all the mechanical work. 1t propels,
lights and heats the street cars, runs the ele-
vstors, the printing presses, the cranes and
all kinds of machinery. and is used for pump
! ing, for eXcayating, and for rock crushing, 1t
IL ey-n applied in the building trades. it not
bcing unusual to see on the streets a mortar
mixer attached TO an electric wire leading
down from q pole. The restaurants cook by
electricity; the butcher employs 1t to chop his
sausage and the grocer to- grind his COFFEE.
The housewives run their sewing machines
and heat their flatirons by electricity; they
bake their cakes in wooden electric cake
ovens that can be set away on thu shelf like
pasteboard boxes. They have electric boilers,
broilers and tea kettles.
That the storage battery will accomplish
what the trolley does is not to be doubted.
Numbers of street car lines are thus equipped
and the service is frst-class. Among the
latest to adopt the storage battery system is
the Fourth avenue surface line in New York
City. The batteries are located on the truck,
and do not occasion the jolting that proved
50 Objectionable when the weight was placed
in the body of the car.
The controlling device and the reversing ap-
paratus are the same as OH the trolley lines,
and the cars se5ia to be under perfect con-
troll. They can trayel over twenty miles an
hour If necessarily
Ordinary rails may be used. The electricity
is grounded Immediately after it mas served
its purpose. AGAR will run sixteen hours after
its battery is charged. The batteries are
charged in the cellar. When a car runs into
the depot it is stopped over a trap to the eel
lar, An elevator comes up and carries down
the exhausted battery. 1t is sent up with a
charged battery. The operation takes one
minute.
SIXTY MILES AN HOUR.
The Columbi and Maryland Railway
company has .nudertaken the enterprise of
constructing an electric railway between the
cities of Baltiln ore and Washington, and the
road will probably be completed in about a
year. The financial and business manage
ment of the Project is under the charge of
M UN Xotla,t. Caharng ~ ITaghia.ta, 49,