Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-02-21
OVERHEAD
The Only Means of Escape the In
derground Conduit.

The Only Means of Escape the In
~derground Conduit.
About forty different methods of
operating electric railways other than
by the overhead wire were described
by Engineer Joseph Sachs, of New
York, before a meeting of the cleo
trlclans Of the Brooklyn institute the
other evening, says the Standard I'm
ion. Some of these methods have been
tried with partial success in differ
ent cities in the United States and
Europe; n has proved both a COM
mercial and practical success at Buda-
Pesth, Hungary, and B%lackpool, Eng
land; u the net result Of the whole
IS rather meager. Mr.. Sachs admits
that about u only means of escape
from the trolley overhead is to build
a conduit and put the wire under our
feet. The two principal systems by
which inventors have sought to avoid
the dangers and noyance of the
trolley are, respectively, the storage
battery of self-contained motor. and
the conduit plan, whether by means of
an open slot and continuous wire or
by local connection. The storage bat
terry cars, Mr.. Sachs said, were among
the earliest introduced. Experiments
were made in electric propulsion as
far back as 1850, but as both the dy-
namo and the storage of electricity
were then unknown, inventors were
forced to depend on a primary bat
terry, which was of no practical use for
the purpose. The discovery that two
plates of lead, when placed in a proper
solution and connected with a source
OF electrical supply, would undergo a
chemical change, and, when discon-
nected, return to their former state.
giving out the electrical current they
had previously received, was an i'm
portant n in the progress Of elcctri.
cal propulsion. Storage battery sys-
TENS sprung UP in all parts of the
country; cars were operated for a time
on the Fourth venue and Second
avenue lines, New York, depending on
storage batteries for their motor power,
and the future of this method of pro-
pulsion looked bright.
The chief difficulties of this plan
were, first, the excessive weight OF the
storage apparatus, amounting TO some
$500 pounds per car, and diminishing
by just that amount the carrying
capacity of each car. and the fact that
batteries in use rapidly ~degenerated,
the chemical changes in the lead, or
lead and copper plates, destroying
them very quickly under the hard
changes to which they were subjected.
C~uriously enough, as Mr.. Sachs eX-
planned, the earliest conduit system IN
troduced made S of a live rail be-
tween the two truck rails, thus max
ing tenfOld more dangerous than the
trolley, a system which is now advo-
Gated chiefly on account Of it's safety
and convenience. In 1884 electric cars
were run by the conduit method in
Cleveland, Ohio. for the first time, IN
opposition to horses. In 1885 a con-
dnit electric railway was instituted in
the city of Blackpool, England, and
has been in successful operation there
Until the present day. A continuous
wire running in a small open slot con-
duit furnishes the motive power.
The most notable, however, of the
foreign conduit system is the Siemens
& HalSke patent, which has been in
operation at Buda-Pesth, Hungary,
for a period Of five or six years. About
twelve miles Of road and cars are in
daily use. AS is we'll known, this sys-
tenn has been suggested as a substi-
tute for the cable on the Broadway line
in New York. An electric conduit is
also to furnish the motive power for
the new LenoX avenue line. The con-
duit being constructed or Lenox ave
nUe is precisely similar to- that used
for the cable. Its adoption shows that
capitalists have confidence in this
method of propulsion, and there is not
much doubt that it will prove a sue
cess here, as is has abroad. Mr.. Sachs
described the various styles of con-
duits in use, saying that engineering
and drainage problems were involved
which rendered a covering for the slot
desirable, although not always prac-
ticable. He closed with a detailed
comparison of the storage battery and
conduit plans, and said that the latter
had proved far more practically eff
cient.