The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-12-24
FREAKS ON WHEELS.
Methods Of Getting Aboat Illustrat.
ted by the Patent Office.
A RAILWAY CAR THAT CAN BE
TRANSFORMED INTO A CHURCH

TrolIy Hearses tie the Csmetery-Passen-
gers Transferred on the Rail without
Stopping Trains-Bathing Cars and
Other Oddities.
Irregular Correspondence of the Boston
Transcript
Washington, Dec. 17-Transportation
next to food supply, is the most serious
problem of civilization. That is why
there is such vast number Of inventions
recorded at the Patent 0 flee for the pur-
pose of carrying people and things. Some
Of them are very odd, indeed.
Particularly for the use and benefit Of
the evangelical missionary, Is newly
invented railway car. When on the road
1t looks like an ordinary Pullman. but,
when desired, it expands into church,
and furnishes shelter and housing for a
congregation of worshippers. So COM
plete is this travelling sacerdotal edifce,
indeed, that 1t actually has steeple,
which is hoisted up and clapped upon the
top of 1t as the finishing touch. Many
people consider that church without a
steeple.ts no church at all In the proper
sense, and hence the desirableness of that
part of the apparatus.
The inventor of this cathedral on wheels
is Albert Bierstadt, the distinguished
painter of New York. His idea sprang
originally from a recognition of the diff
culties which must be encountered by
peripatetic preachers who find themselves
SO frequently In places where there is no
church. Now, 1t is fact undeniable that
religious services of any kind depend for
their impressiveness largely upon archi
lecture. A sermon delivered from q
gracefully carven pulpit in the apse of a
superb Gothic ediflce has an effect upon
its hearers very differenu from that which
would be produced upon the same congre-
cation by the same discourse pronounced
from the tail of cart. Hence the value
of the saoerdotal railway car herein de-
soribed.
The oar is as useful for transportation
as,any parlor Pullman. Whsn 1t reaches
a place where its services in its sacred
CopdolUy 1lO AO4 QlISAI Az 40 Iuh On uDOu
a side track. But just here 1t must be
explained that cars of this kind are de-
signed to travel in couples, each of them
making ons-half of the church. The side
walls are swung outward, and the whole
affair unfoIds, the two halves being
joined together. In order to accomplish
this the. two cars are runsupon tracks side
by side. II the tracks are not convenient,
half dozen rails temporarily laid will
do.
. . The steeple, which is collapsible, is
telescoped out before placing it upon the
summit of the editlce. Then, the build
ing being complete-its construction does
not take more than half an hour-it only
remains to unfold a lot of settees for use
as improvised pews by the congregation,
The folding pulpit, with baptismal font
combined, Is mere detail. though i'm
portant for saving space. In conclusion,
1t ought to be stated that the church Is
readily convertible into lecture hall or
q gallery for the exhibition of, pictures.
Now that the interior of Africa is being
penetrated by railways, it wilIbe practi-
cable for missionaries to carry their
churches with them, and to preach the
gospel to the untutored blacks under aus
pices much more favorable
Riyalling the cathedral car in ingenuity
is the trolly hearse and mourners' car
rage combined. This is device newly
patented by Reuben A. McCauley of Bal
timore. Its special purpose is to effect
in funeral expenses, which often
means. By its adoption the necessity of
! separate vehicle to carry the corpse is
lone away with altogether, the coffin be-
ing placed ON top of the vehicle which
the persons attending the funeral.
The car, indeed, is much like an ordinary
the burial casket on top.
1t Is suggested that the vehicle should
be separated into two compartments by a
partition, the front one being occupied
by the immediate relatives Of the defunct,
who could enter through side-door for
WIG buAo VI PRIVACY Iuo Cur Is ChlCultU-
ed for use in any city where there lis
trolley line running out to cemetery as
happens. When the burying
ground is reached, the coffin is elid down
by q simple arrangement of chute and
tackle.
The problem of transportation has in
spired an immense amount Of ingenuity
ON the part of American inventors. An
Ohio man ,aas a scheme for saving the
time wasted in stops on railroad journeys
by loading and unloading passengers
while the train is in motion This is nc
by u series of swings at each
station, which receive the people, or put
them aboard, without interfering with
their comfort or safety. The real trouble
with the person who desires to catch a
train on the fly is his inertia. But for
his inertia. he might hop aboard the
lightning express at sixty miles an hour
without the culver of al eyelid. The
swing compensates for the inertia, and
thus the. problem is solved.
This is an age Of neutrality-suspicious.
Of physical comfort. The development of