The San Francisco call., 1897-06-06
THAT THIRD RAIL AGAIN,

The subject of electric traction as ap-
| piled 10 steam railroads develops new in
terest continually. A brief reference 10
| the technical success of the third-rail sys-
tenn was made in these columns a week
! ago. but the question of economy was not
touched upon. Now it has been shown
that tine adoption of the electric system
! would be great boon 10 the pub
Under electric propulsion it costs no
more to send out hall dozen separate cars
! than it does to send out the same cars in q
! ing.e train. Under steam traction the ex-
! pense increases much more rapidly in pro-
| portion to the number of trains and
/ engines employed than to the mum ber of
! cars carried. Ii the great commuter roads
! should adopt electricity for suburban
service no man would have TO carry a
| timetable. Trains of one. two or three
cars could be run out all day long almost
| as closely together as the elevated railroad
trains, and at speeds exceeding those of
the fastest express trains. Nothing is
more remarkable about electric traction
than the facility and economy with which
| high speeds can be attained anG kept up
| The electric motor is a true rotary en-
| CINE, perfectly balanced and always ex-
erting its full power in turning the wheels,
and it runs as smoothly at 100 miles an
| hour as at ten.
| at the electric power-house OF the Hart
ford Conn third-rail system Colonel n
| H. Heft, the electrician, Is conducting an
experiment which promises to work won
ders. 1t is the use for fuel of a substance
which is a waste product on almost every
steam railroad in the country. This is
| L., orl-s
! bits of unburned coal or coke which are
carried out Of the locomotive furnace by
the fierce draught, and would be showered
upon the surrounding land but for the
spark arresters in the locomotive stacks
They falI back into the box at the head of
the boiler and are blown out at the end of
every trip. A half ton of them may be
taken out each time.
On the New York, New Haven and Hart
ford Railroad system from 200 to 800 car
! loads of sparks are produced every month
A small part of tEis product is sold for a
small price, bur most OF the sparks are
thrown away. Colonel Heft found that in a
furnace provided with special appliances
for burning them every ton of sparks
was equal to q half ton of the best
steam coal. He began by using them un-
| der the boilers OF the poHer-house at
Stamford, Conn. where the railroad owns
and operates the streetcar trolley linee
He burns them by introducing into the
boiler furnace a blast of air and steam
com bined. In the Hartford system power
house all his boilers are Fl tied to burn
either coal or sparks and it is Colonel
| Heft's intention TO use sparks exclusively.
He has made an improvement in his fur
mace arrangements which he believes will
add still further 70 the economy of using
sparks for fuel. This consists of sending
the blast of steam and air down through
the walls OF the furnace, so that it will
enter the furnace at TEN persture almost
| high enough TO start com bu:tion al once.
The immediate extension of elec-
trio traction over steam railroad tracks, it
is said, is clearly in the direction of hand
ling suburban traffic. President Clark of
| the Hartford system declares that with
a fuei at hand which costs nothing the
steam roads should be able to offer formid-
able competition to independent lines
and running as they do over tracks in
tended for railroad travel alone, they can
maintain a speed which no trolley line
| dare attempt"