New-York tribune., 1896-11-01
BATTERY MOTOR.
ELECTRICITY on THE ELEVATED ROADS
THE TfrRrY-FoCR7H- ST. EXPERIMENT NOT
VERY PROMIsING-THE ACTING CHIEF EH"i-
NEER MIR MOSS not DfscOURAGED-
HE REGARDS ELECTRIC TRACTION
FEASIBLE AND DESIRABLE
FEASIBLE AND DESIRABLE.

HE REGARDS ELECTRIC TRACTION
FEASIBLE AND DESIRABLE.
Fresh. though perhaps faint. hopes OF an I'M
provemont in the service on the main nhes OF 'he
elevated railway In this city were excited by
tho experincnt in electric traction undertaken
on the East Thirty fourth-st. branch In fact. IL Is
that possibility mainly which renders the expert
ment Interesting In the hope OF shedding HI
tic TX on this point. Tribune reporter oo-
,aincd from Lincoln Moss. acting chief eng-
nccr Of the Manhattan Railway Company. few
details which have not yet been brought out dis
tincily. II Al all
"Wncn the storage battery folks who are manag-
Ing this iia ter came to with proposition last
year" "a Mr. Moss. we suggested the combina-
,ion % third rail and storage. and they accepted
the amondr.cnt We also wanted them to see no"
much % ne Of our old steam locomotives could
be- utilized in building the new electric motor"
How much could they save?
THE !giving-whecls. frame and the pony truck
when everything else had been removed. however
il was found that there was not room enough inside
the frame to afiix the electric apparatus until after
one other alteration was made. Tho drivers wer"
removed from the old axlcs. and new ones. having
outside bearings. were substituted"
What difference was made in the weight OF the
engine by the transformation?
"At arst when equipped with a suf,cien.ly large
battery TO run without third raj! at all. the en-
ginc weighed sixty tons. Subsequently the num-
h.r OF cells was reduced 20 2s and IT then weighed
,twen,y-cigh, tons Hut our steam locomotives
range from nineteen To twenty three and one half
tons and the machine In service has been
reduced to tho lowest OF these figures. hut the bat
terry II composed ~ only nftyfour cells"
Are YOU satisfied that storage battery Is really
necessary ni all?'
on this point Mr. Moss apparently reluctant
10 commit himself He would not confess to any
affirmative conviction. and admitted that two ce-
waited roads In Chicago were operated successfully
with electricity without the help OF storage bat
terry.
Mr. Moss was then asked whether. in his opinion.
II is better to have an independent and separate
electric engine taking the place Of locomotive. ~
I'm the Baltimore tunnel. or TO put the necessary
machinery on one OF the passenger OF the
train as on the Chicago elevated roads Just re-
fcrrci
For our purposes" he replied. the latter plan
seems t. be preferable. In the first place. there
would be a saving in the dead weight to be moved.
An electric motor attached to each OF the four
axlcs Of a ear would add only twelve tons to It's
weight This in Itself is great gain. But.
ondly the extra load would be better distributed.
In a separate engine this Is concentrated within a
small space. and the consequent strain on the
structure Is greater. But our cars are so long
/ that their whole weight does not come single
span OF the road. There is another material ad-
vantage"
The question has been raised. Mr. Moss. whether
the third rail. which supplies tho current to an
ccirically propelled train. and also thu rails Of
the rack Itself. which return the current TO the
station are big enough to conduct so great vol
ume OF electricity would be required on a road
Ike yours. Do you anticipate any trouble on this
scorc?'
Not at all. You must remember that we can cut
the third rail up into short sections as we like
and feed each section through Its own separate In
suated cable. precisely as they do the overhead
4 frofl.y We cal
tions so short that the service performed will not be
in excess OF the conductvity OF the rail- itself so
| much for the supply. Now for the return Here
we can use whole iron elevated structure as well
| MS the track There IL no need Of Insulating the
| rails on which the trains run. and to which the
currcn, escapes after having gone up into the mo-
tors IL IL only the third rail which We insulate."
But T. there no danger to be anticipated from
using the whole structure for return purposes?
| 81 see none. They have had no trouble whatever
| from this cause In Chicago. where the plan has
been thoroughly tested. Neither man nor beast on
| the street below could feel anything IL he touched
! the pillars. II Is impossible to short circuit the
current In that way. and consequently there Is no
risk The elevated structure would form the best
kind OF conductor. much better than the rails
above, for return purposes"
| How about leakage from the third rail. which
supplies the across to the others which re-
"if this could occur 1t would be a serious matter
The electricity. or that portion OF It which leaked
represent a waste Of power. It would even paralyze
the road II sufficiently large This Is the great thing
to guarded against. But the Chicago experiments
! show that II the third rail be mounted on proper
insula there Is seldom any leakage. ana even
then very little The trouble could occur only during
a heavy. driving rain when there Is an apparently
continuous wetted surface reaching from one rail
| to the other. Bat the nsulaors employed are OF
such shape that there Is not really continuous
route for the current. Under the most trying CIR.
cumstances in Chicago. the leakage never exceeded
one per cent. -
Here is another curious fact. Mr. Moss added:
thunderStOrms l
roads completely paralyzed by lightning The bolt
would strike 4 wire, run into the central station.
blow out the instrument there which they call the
circuit breaker and discOnnect the dynamo ana
the line. But big iron structure like an elevated
road, supported on pillars reaching down into the
ground. would absorb any such dose OF atmos-
pherc electricity. and convey II away silently and
harmlessly into the earth In this respect We have
n decided advantage over the surface roads.
What are the chances OF short circuit from
n falling wire workman's crowbar being
dropped SO as to touch both tho supply and re-
turn rais?'
| ..J here are two thinss IN be said on that point