The Daily Texarkanian., 1895-01-09
AN ELECTRIC ENGINE.


Belt Line tunnel of the Baltimore
& Ohio in the city Of Baltimore will
probably be in operation in the ear
ly part of the year This is as def.
mite time as the General Electric
company will fix, but the work on
the locomotive and the generating
machinery is now progressing stead
| lily, and it is believed that the loco
motive as now constructed will
meet the requirement,
The trucks are of forged iron,
each resting on four driving wheels
of cast-steel, G2 inches in diameter
Flexibly supported upon each Of
these trucks are two siT-pole gear
less motors, one for each axle,
transmitting motion from the arma-
lures to the wheels by an especially
designed flexible coupling. The
method of spring suspension allows
of the immediate adjustment Of the
wheels to the irregularities of the
track, lessening the wear both to
the motors and the track The ar
natures are Of the iron clad type.
A hollow shaft serves to carry the
armature, and through this passes
the wheel axle, to which it is con
nected by the universal coupling al
ready mentioned which allows of
freedom Of action in any direction.
The complete motors, which are
the largest railroad motors in the
world, arc 50 set on the truck that
they will be easy Of access under all
circumstances
The cab, which will be spring sup
ported on the truck frame, will be
of sheet iron and wood and will have
windows on all sides, Within the
cab will be the series parallel con
troller and the air pump, operated
by a small electric motor, which
will supply the air for the compress
ed air brakes and the whistle, The
locomotive will also be supplied with
bells, safety devices, etc, and will
have a Janney coupler at each end.
The flashed locomotive will weigh
05 tons, will be IA feet 3 inches long,
8 feet 63 inches wide, and will be of
standard guage, The maximum
speed will be 80 miles an hour This
will be reduced to 30 miles an hour
when only half the draw-bar pull is
exerted, and to 10 miles an hour
when with full draw-bar pull, The
average speed Of the loaded train
will be about 80 miles an hour 1t
can of course be run either forward
or backward.
This locomotive Is designed for
heavy work, and will ,be called upon
to handle trains as heavy as' those
now handled by heavy steam en-
gines. A test of one Of the com
pleted trucks as shown, represent
ing one.half of the locomotive, was
recently made upon the tracks at
the Schenectady works of the con-
struction company In order to
obtain the the necessary load a
New York Central heavy siX-whcel
engine was made use Of, and the
electric locomotive truck coupled to
It. The machines were then sent
in opposite directions and pulled at
the connecting coupling as If in a
tug Of war, The electric locomo.
tive had a slight advantage over
the steam engine in weight on the
driving wheels, and pulled 1t up and
down the track with apparent ease.
For the same weight upon The driy'
ers it was shown that the electric
locomotive will start a greater load
than the steam locomotive, the pull
being constant throughout the en-
tire revolution Of the wheel, the
difficulty Of variation of pull with
the angle crank AZ in the steam lo-
comotlye being eliminated, The
test also proved that not only were
the motors sufficiently powerful,
but that the driving mechanism
and armature couplings are amply
strong to transmit the torque OF
the armature to the axle,
The power house Is rapidly APP
preaching completion and the gen
eral machinery Is almost ready for
installation, The overhead appa'
ratus, which has been especially
designed to meet the extraordinary
requirements, will shortly be In po'
stIon, RAILROAD Gazette
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