Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-07-24
1T Is FOUND AT LAST.
NEW UNDERGROUND PLAN or ELEc-
TRIcAL PROPULSION.
ley and Il Said 60 Run More Smoothly
Than Any Yet Tried--How IL Works.


Than Any Yet Tried--How It Works.
Tho new wheellcss underground system
OF electrical propulsion, ms applied to street
railways and hauling for terminal freight,
has been introduced and Ia being watched
with interest by the mechanical world.
A perfect storage battery car has been
the dream OF electricians for years, and
that Is just what the Westinghouse com.
pany processes 20 have made.
There have been several failures OF tho
storage battery cars on street railroads I'm
this country, the most notable being those
OF tho railroads In Muncie, Ind, and OF
Marlboro and Hudson, Mass. The battery
system was tried for time on both these
roads, but tho experiment was SO unsuc-
cessful that 10 was eventually abandoned
and the overhead trolley system was adopt
cd instead.
The Westinghouse system Is certainly n
novel one, but at test which was made
at the company's works at Pittsburg re-
Gently 1t was considered highly satisfactory
In every way. There We're number OF
practical men present at the time the test
was made, and they expressed the opinion
that the system was good oEe.
No unsightly stringing of wires over
head Is required, and that Is certainly
something in its favor. Another Is the
comparatively small expense connected
with the laying of tracks ON any road on
which 1t may be worked
Instead Of a deep excavation requiring
to be made, as In the case Of road worked
by cable or an underground electric road, a
number Of studs are inserted In the
ground at certain distances along the
track. Each car Is fitted with "shoe"
extending the entire length Of the car bot
tom and also with small but powerful
storage battery. The battery supplies the
electricity to the shoe, the shoe to the
studs as 1t passes over them, and by this
means the car Is propelled forward or back
ward as the motorman wishes.
The studs are placed two abreast in the
road or street. and no two sets Of studs
are farther apart than the length of car.
These studs are perfectly harmless until
the shoe touches them Then they receive
the full force of the generator from the
shoe.
The Westinghouse system has also per-
feet smoothness in running in its favor.
There is no spasmodic jerking Of passen
gers from one end of the car to the other
when "a stop takes place or IA start Is about
to be made, and this Of itself Is "con-
summation devoutly to be wished by
passengers who are in the habit of travel
ing on street railroads
The system has been experimentally In
use in Washington for nearly IL months,
and about month ago Colonel Hahn and
George Gould witnessed a test Of it in
Pittsburg, with the view, 1t is said of
using it on the elevated railroads In New
York instead of steam.
Both gentlemen expressed themselves as
thoroughly satisfied with the test and said
that the system was the best, In point of
economy and simplicity of construction,
Of any that they had seen previously.
At the test which took place recently
one motor ran five cars containing $50
tons of freight over an intricate system Of
track at good rate of speed, to the sur
prise of all who witnessed it.-New York
Journal