Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-03-15
STREET CAR Batteries.
Slowly Improving, hut Long Way
Yet From Success.

From the Philadelphia Ledger.
1t was supposed that when the long and
expensive litigation over storage battery
patents Rad come to end the company
controlling all the essential patents would
at once develop Il battery for use on street
would be no doubt. New York and Wash
ington offered favorable fields for the in
troductlon OF storaSe-battery cars for troll
ley lines have been prohibited in both cit
les. In New York, horse cars are generally
employed, but there are also cable lines.
Unsuccessful experiments have been made
with compressed air motors. and the un-
derground electric system is about to be
introduced, though the system has made
no headway in Europe. As a matter of
fact, no system of street car propulsion in
use in America is without its drawbacks
Horses are of course out of the question:
the trolley is Objectionable because of the
overhead wire construction: the under
ground trolley is not reliable in bad wealth
er. and the slot in the street is nuisance
The same can be said of the cable roads
The electric roads operated by means of
contact plates have not been put to prac-
teal tests. 1t may be added that in all of
the Systems named the cars are not inde-
pendent motors, but have to have power
transmitted to them. so that break in
the system stops all the cars. Compressed
air motors and storage batteries give prom
Use of more satisfactory service than cables
or electric lines, whether overhead or un-
derground. for in both systems the power
to operate car is stored upon it and
each is independent of the others. A car
provided with storage batteries or with
reservoir of compressed air and suitable
motors can even be taken off the track.
whereas a trolley or cable car is helpless
except when in connection with the source
of power. Under these circumstances a fine
opening is presented for compressed air or
storage battery cars, if they can be run
in commercial competition with trolley or
cable cars.
AS before remarked. compressed air has
been tried in New York and abandoned,
doubtless because of the expense of oper-
ating. Storage batteries have never been
tried in this country on what could prop
erly be called Il large enough scale to test
their economy. In Europe they are eX-
tensively used. and with apparent success.
for the number of storage battery cars
and Of lines using them is being steadily
increased. 1t is not clear. however. that
they can compete in cheapness with the
overhead trolley system. They are appar-
ton of trolley lines inside the city lin
its. In Hanover, sixty cars have been
are soon to be added. The batteries are
charged from the trolley lines outside
the city limits. In Dresden similar doub-
lie system is employed. thirty cars being
its. and then through the city by storage
batteries charged from the trolley line.
Fifteen cars are to be added on this line.
Copenhagen is about to start a line of
eighteen accumulation cars: Hagen has
eight cars in operation and ten more are
to be added: Paris is to equip thirty-five
storage battery cars. and Berlin has decid-
ed to run all its cars on the mixed system
by trolley lines in the suburbs and by
storage batteries in the streets of the city
Berlin will give the best demonstration of
the economic capabilities of storage batter
les. for 1t will have between 60 and 100
cars equipped with them. In this country
established trolley lines are not likely to
be disturbed by the introduction of storage
batteries, but New York and Washington.
having refused to permit the erection of
overhead trolleys, will probably get a bet
ter system of electric car propulsion be-
fore many years.