Evening star., 1897-04-26
C0MPRESSEDAIRC CARS
Fifteen to Be Placed on the Ecking-
ton and Soldiers Home Road.
RECEIVER SCHOEPF'S ANNOUNCEMENT
One of the Owners of the Patent
Talks About Compressed Air.
CL AIMS IN ITS BEHALF

Mr.. W. Kesley Schoepf. the receiver OF
the lexington and Soldiers Home Rail-
road Company and also of the Belt Line
Railroad Company, informed a Star re-
porter today that it had been definitely de-
termined to equip the lexington lines with
the Hoadley- knight compressed air sys-
tenn of rapid transit.
mo disinterested observer who has
watched the tests over the lexington lines
that have been conducted for some time
past can have any other than my own
opinion about the reliability and success
of compressed air for street car propul-
sion," said Mr.. Schoepf, and you can
readily appreciate how l regard ii when l
tell you / have absolute confidence I'm IL.
1t has been decided to equip the Eckng-
ten line from Brookland to Center market
with the system and / feel certain that the
cars run by compressed air will be i'm reg
ular operation by the middle Of September
the first of October
THE compressors, which will be placed
in the power station at lexington. arr now
being manufactured by the American
Wheelock Engine Company of Worcester.
Mass, and are well under way. Part OF
the car equipments are also under way.
Fifteen cars will be put on the line from
Center market to Brookland.
How about the oft-repeated charges
lexington road cannot surmount the grades
approaching lexington or that on Louisi-
ana avenue between 9Th and 9th streets?'
inquired the reporter.
An Experiment With Cold Air.
"The car has taken all these grades re-
peatedy,'' said Mr.. Schoepf. 1T has failed
only once on any grade. This was on the
grade entering lexington, and was not un-
expected by me- ] making test
of running the car with cold air. to ascer-
tain the results that could be accom-
plished without reheating the air. When
the car is being regularly operated we OH
tain about 60 per cent better efficiency
with heated air than with air at atmos-
pheric temperature. The car makes trips
from lexington to 18th and G. streets. IL
has carried 81 passengers one way and 30
the other, making 100 on the round trip.
with % per cent of reserve force in the
reservoirs, or 800 pounds out of the 2Ee
pounds with which the reservoirs were
charged at starting"
The car being operated here has al
ready run over LOCO miles on the Ecking-
ton tracks, said Mr.. Schoepf in conclu-
sion, 'and has hauled over 4,5v0 passengers.
and not yet has dollar been spent on IL
for maintenance or renewals. consider
this fine showing, inasmuch as this car
is a standard Broadway car, and was
operated 2,4O0 miles in New York city and
carried over 10000 passengers on the Lenox
avenue underground electric line OF the
Metropolitan Traction Company before be-
ing brought here for test purposes.
How Compressed Air is Handled.
Mr.. Joseph II. Hoadey of the Hoadley-
knight Compressed Air Power Company.
who has been here in consultation with
Mr.. Schoepf over the equipment of the
lexington line, was interrogated by The
Star reporter on the subject of compressed
air, and the manner in which this energy
is secured and controlled
a re
used for the compression of air, said Mr..
Hoadley, which are known as the Sinslet
double, triple and quadruple stages. The
only quadruple apparatus In existence IL
the one at the station in this city, tha
lexington power house The air is com,
pressed by this i'm four stages. Ii is taken
into the first cylinder direct from the at
mosphere, where il is subjected TO pres
sure of sixty pounds to the square inch.
From this cylinder the air is passed
through what is called an inner cooler,
formed of gaspipe, around which water Is
constantly circulating in order to carry
away the heat developed al each stage of
compression. These additional heat units
having been expelled, the air is passed into
the second cylinder at atmospheric tenn
perature, but at the pressure to which IL
was compressed in the first cylinder. In
the second cylinder it is further compressed
to 24O pounds to the square inch. and Is
again passed through the inner cooler to
relieve 1t of the heat as described in the
first instance. Entering the third cylinder
square inch, and in the fourth cylinder
reaches it's final stage of compression,
which is 1900 pounds to the square inch.
From this cylinder 1t is put into the air
reservoirs IT 1900 pounds to the square
inch and at atmospheric temperature.
Heat Needed for Expansion.
In order to get the expansion necessary
to do the work on the cars, II is necessary
to put back into the compressed air the
heat units that have been removed during
the process of compression, and copse-
quently the air is reheated while on the
car. The reservoirs containing the air are
rine inches in diameter, about four feet
long and circular in form. They are made
Of the finest grade of steel and are all sub
jected to test of 1900 pounds to the
square inch before leaving the factory.
They are made very largely In this coun-
try, and also at Dusseldorf in Germany
The reservoir pressure is maintained at -
OO pounds. The car is charged at the pow
er station, or at points along the line by
means of pipelines connected with reser-
voirs. 1t requires thirty seconds TO charge
car with 1000 pounds pressure. The car
Is only provided with the number of reser-
voirs necessary to operate a required dis
tance without recharging. Here in Wash
inston the cars will be charged for trips Of
about ten miles"