The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-09-03
an eLEcTRIcA. WONDER.
Incidents of Trolley Ride Through the
Large Sewers Of Paris.

The main sewers Of Paris are periodical
! " cleared by means of scrapers carried on
boats or cars. These oonyeyances are also
used for conveying visitors through the
large sewers under the Rue do Riyoli and
the Boulevards Sevastopol and Des Males
herbes. These exhibitions take place four
times year in spring and autumn, and
about 8, 400 visitors are admitted yearly.
Until 1894 these cars and boats were drawn
by men, but the labor and expense were
found to bc so excessive that now the trac-
tion is done entirely by electric motors,
taking current from accumulator batteries
on the boats or cars. These main sewers
are in section very similar to an ordinary
tunnels but in the floor Is formed the rec
tangular channel for the sewage, while
round the roof are fixed the water and
compressed air mains, the telegraph and
telephone wires, etc. The sewer under the
Boulevard des Malesherbes Is the largest.
1t is Is feet 4 y inches wide, 10 feet high
from floor to roof, and the sewage channel
in the floor is 3 feet 54 inches deep and 8
feet 10 inches wide. Boats are used in this
channel
The other sewers are smaller the chan
nels in them being only 3 feet l l inches
wide and from 8 feet IL inches to feet z
inches deep. In these, cars are run, the
Hanged wheels of tho cars running on the
edges of the channel, which are protected
by angle bars, and from the rails. The ap-
proximate weight of q train of five cars
with 100 passengers on board is about
tons 12 hundredweight, and this travels at
the rate of 34 miles per hour. The accu-
mulator battery consists of 28 elements
and weighs IA hundredweight, and its ca
pacity is 100 ampere hours, with q mean
discharge of 20 amperes at 80 or go volts.
The motor, which is series wound, develops
2 horsepower and runs at 1000 revolu
lions per minute, this speed being reduced
to so by means of pinion and wheel and
chain gearing to the driving axle, the
wheels being 15A inches in diameter on
the tread.
The boats are towed by means of chain
sunk in the sewage channel, which is
brought to the surface and passes round q
pulley driven by means of double reduc-
ton gear from the motor. The chain by
means of guide pulleys, makes three-quar-
tiers Of n turn round the driving pulley, |
this pulley being a magnetic one, magnet
lied by means of two coils, one on each |
side of it, on the axle Each passenger |
train consists of six boats, In tho first OF |
which are carried the accumulation battery
and towing apparatus, while in tho last
boat, which is a smaller one, there is an
other towing apparatus
The battery consists of 60 elements, Civ
ing an output of 60 amperes for 21a hours
ut from % to 1875 volts. 1t is divided into
two parts, which can be connected in series
or parallel, as required. The motors run
ut $50 revolutions per minute, but this
speed is reduced by means of the gearing, so
that the boats travel at about = miles per
hour. The power required for this is from
about 2 horsepower to 81 horsepower ac-
,ording as the boats are travelling with or
against the current The total length of
the sewers open in this way to the public
Is about two miles, and they are lighted
partly by lamps on the footpaths or by oil
lamps on the boats Genie Civil.