The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-08
steam md Electricity.


The chief contest between the steam en-
CINE and the electric motor as a driving
power Is probably not in the railway world.
as might be supposed from the facts that
nearly all Of the street railways IN the
more important cities are now operated by
electricity. that Chicago has recently built
an elevated railway 10 be operated by cleo
tricity. that the Metropolitan Elevated Of
New York Is seriously considering the
changing Of its system from steam TO cleo
tricity. that heavy electric locomotives aae
now being used on the belt line in the city
OF Baltimore. and that the Pennsylvania
railroad is about to equip one Of is
branches a hundred miles long with cleo
tricity. On the other hand. the chief rival
~ appears to be IN the matter of driving
the machinery in the thousands of mills.
shops and manufacturing establishments
that are scattered from one end of the
country to the other. In such establish
ments the steam engine, with Its accom-
panying maze of shafts. pulleys and belts.
is rapidly being supplanted by the little
humming motor. gcared more or less d.
away with an enormous loss Of power be-
tween the CRATE bars and the machine act
uatcd as the fnal result.
An example of the victory Of the electric
motor as machine driver is to be found
in the plant of the Morning News. All of
the numerous machines in the plant, which
were formerly driven by a steam engine.
are now driven by several electric motors.
distributed where their power can be taken
10 the machines with the least gearing
and betting, thus minimizing the friction
and reducing the amount OF initial power
necessary to perform the service required.
A great cotton mill has lately been built
at Columbia, S. c., in which the separate
machines. or separate groups of machines,
are actuated by separate electric motors,
the calculation being that the saving of
power will amount to a considerable fig
ure in the course Of a year
The Baldwin Locomotive Works, of Phil
adelphia, the largest works of the kind in
the world, employing $500 men. has re-
Gently changed the driving power for its
main floor from the steam engine to the
electric motor, and finds that but one-half
Of the horse power that was required to
run the works under the old system is
necessary to run it under the new. The
main shop was formerly run with 800
horse power engine, delivering its energy
TO the machines through a complicated
system Of heavy belts. shafts. cogs and
other devices in common use in machine
shops. It has been calculated by some OF
the experts of the works that not more
than 10 per cent of the initial force from
the engine was utilized at the machines,
the remainder being used up in dragging
the heavy belts around pulleys and turn
efforts TO resist the strain of the
belts That heavy engine has now been re
placed by several small and high speed
ones aggregating 25O-horse power. and the
energy is taken from them in the shape of
electricity directly to the machines, each
heavy machine being run by a separate
motor. All of the overhead network of
shafts, wheels and belts has been done
away with, with the consequence, aside
from the saving of the coal pile, that In
stead of a dark and dirty room the main
shop has become a clean, well ventilated
and well lighted room. 1t is a probability,
depending on the price of small motors in
future, according to the American Machin-
ist that the Baldwin works will be fitted
throughout with motors.