The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-06-17
BOOKS FILL THE AIR.
Handled by Machinery In BOston's
New Public Library.
phjIadelnhIa pacor

Philadelphia Record.
There are many remarkable things about
the new Boston library of which the most
novel is the method of conveying the books
between the main desk and the book cases
on the various floors.
1t was early in the work of building the
portation presented itself for solution. says
the Electrical Engineer. In the old library.
now vacated, d., score or more boys We're
parts of the building for the books re-
quired. Under the new order of things
about five times more work would have TO
each one of whom might have to tramp
from eight to ten miles every day. The
impossibility. therefore. of continuing such
system was realized, and a change de-
cided upon.
A local company was called upon to
design and construct a mechanical system
They had no data to go by. and so had
10 devise something entirely new. by means
of which the attendants would be able to
building with its five acres OF book shelves.
and and and iabor VT, They sesisnsd q, sys,
the floor has only to pick out
the book wanted. put IL in railway car
with a cable attachment, push it off the
side switch to the main line. from whence
1T runs round at a rate of five hundred
feet minute. to a special elevator. which
drops automatically. as soon as The car
waits till the empty car rolls back. end
then delivers 1t a return track to the
switch ii started from.
For the accommodation of the hundreds
of thousands of volumes there are six
stories or stacks, as they. are technically
called, of books. According to this ar
rangement, the delivery room, which opens
on to the main reading room, although on
the second floor front, occupies a position
between the fourth and fifth stacks.
The aim of the designers was to focus all
the books toward this one place, and as a
first step they constructed an elevator well,
long and narrow. This pierced the entire
building, from basement TO roof, running by
the stacks and delivery room. In this they
set up shafts for three elevators, one for
each stack. The delivery room being be-
tween the fifth and sixth stacks. two dis
tinct elevator motions had to be provided
for; the one from the fifth and sixth stacks
going down, while the ones from the first,
room In the basement the ten-horse-
power motor has been installed to haul the
elevators, which il does very satisfactorily.
Then there had to be constructed railway
round the building. A miniature track with
an eight-inch gauge and following the lines
of the interior courtyard was built. This
track is over half mile in length. The
cars are made of wire and travel 500 feet
minute with ten to thirty pounds weight
Of books in them. At certain points are
switches working automatically, by means
of which the cars are diverted to whatever
part OF the building or different floors they
may be required. There are eighteen sta
tons along the track arranged that GER
tain cars stop at their own assigned depots
and at no other. The same company con-
means of which cards, tickets and other
messages are dispatched to any desired
point and returned by the same route. This
apparatus is operated by the same motor.