Evening star., 1896-08-06
Success of the Air Motors.

The Star is today in receipt of letter.
which Is printed elsewhere In this issue.
from a Washington man who went to New
York for the purpose of inspecting the eX-
permental motor now being run by COM
pressed air iri that city. He reports the
practical success of the car in that ii moves
speedily over the track without interrupt
tion or annoyance. The sole objection that
he points out as regards this particular
form of compressed air motor is the some
what severe vibration. which the inventor
claims TO he due to the newness of the
machinery 1t is announced now. however,
that the motor In use In New York is not
of the kind to he introduced or the Ecking-
ton and Belt roads in this city. but that the
contract for the local equipment has been let
TO Pitjsbu;g firm for a hitherto unadver-
tised form of construction. There should be
no surprise that number of compressed air
motors are on the market or that they are
successful AS long ago as October 22. 1S!f-.
The Star published article describing the
compressed air lire at Paris which had been
in use for some time and mentioned as well
similar railway at Nantes, France, which
had heen in operation ten years. The state
melt of finances submitted annually by the
latter company showed that the pneumatic
system was cheaper and more profitable
even than the trolley These roads are in
use today and have not sucCumbed to the
intense competition of heap electrical sys-
TENS or of the better and more expensive
forms of undo rground construction.
Notwithstanding these facts the electrical
Journals persist in ignoring the compressed
air theory or In denouncing it as imprac-
ticab {. The Eiekirik Zeitung, European
publication. recently came to the conclusion
tha; no one need TO regard compressed air
as a formidable competitor of electricity,
adding: But i:s introduc tion for the trac-
ton will aid in doing away with horses and
after this Grange has once been made
change back IL horses would not be toler-
ate,i, thus opening the field for electricity
This reads somewhat strangely in view of
the fact that in this country at least the
overh. adj trolley did the work of driving out
the horses The necessity then arose to find
some method of driving out the trolley, and
IN electrical expedient the underground
conduit system with its almost perfect
service and its more expensive construc-
tion began to creep into favor. But there
Is Il necessity today for some means of
rapid transit that will adequately fill the
too-gredt interval in point of economy,
safety and serviC eahility that now exists in
this country between the overhead and the
underground trolley. To be sure in the case
of tne local lines that are to be the scene of
the compressed air experiments here the
Observa ton of the Elektrik Zeitung have a
PECULIAR applicability. 1t is expected that
the compressed air will drive out the horses
and IL is sincerely hoped that it will event
ua!y open the field for the better form of
electrical motive power such as storage
batteries brought to that point of perfec ton
that Is confidently anticipated by experts
In view of the successes that have been
achieved in Europe on this line it Is rather
strange that there should need 10 be so
much experimenting with the compressed
air motor There no conditions here
that would prevent repetition in this city
of the experience of the French capitalists
who have for ten fifteen years been
making money and giving satisfactory serv-
ice by means of compressed air motors
Yet IL experiments are deemed necessary 1t
IL probably just well that the people
here should get the benefit of the very best
and the very latest that exists in this line
and ii may be that the Pittsburg motor for
which the lexington road has contracted
CT perhaps the Hardie Hoadley motors
thar are now competing for the New York
field. will prove sufficiently better than those
in use abroad to compensate in part for the
81