Arizona republican., 1898-10-10
ELECTRIC MAIL SERVICE.
A Track on Which i2O Mics an Heur
 Can Be Made.

During the past few weeks very interesting series Of tests have been carried on at Jersey City Heights with a model car or carrier invented by J. H. McGurty of Jersey City. Fer this purpose circular track one-qu2rter Of a mile in length has been constructed at the corner of Central and Manhat- tan avenues, and around this track the miniature car speeds at a marvellous rate, fulfilling the expectations of the inventor and his friends, as well as suggesting the possibility of a com mercially successful system Of electric express service. The syst5m invented by Mir. McGurIy is for the purpose of carrying mail, newspapers and gen. eral express matter at a high rate Of speed, embodying devices to have the car stop at any desired station and d0- ing away with an attendant on the car. To accomplish these desirable features MT. McGurty has invented several new and interesting devices, such as auto
 natic controllers, a novel trolley, insu- lated sections and brake, ali Of which will be referred to later on.
 It is proposed to run the cars at a speed Of 120 miles per hour, but the model car Of this ingenious device, which is box-shaDed and pointed at one end, is five feet long, three feet high, and two feet wide. and weighs 530 pounds, will not run at this speed. It does, however, with six-inch wheels, attain a speed of eighteen miles per hour on this continuous curve" track. The practical car will probably be thir- i ty feet in length and have a. capacity Of about 10000 pounds.
 i The inventor, who has carefully
 worked out every detail of his scheme,
 claims as new an alternating current motor, one of which is mounted direct i iy on the front and one on the rear
 axle Of the car On board Of the car i is an automatic rheostat for startirS g the car, there being no attendant, and this rheostat embodies a mechanism l by means of. which the car can be
 started as slowly O. rapidly as is de-
 sired, bringing it up to speed in one or
 two minutes or even a fractional part
 Of C2e minute. There is further pro- Vided an ingenious electric brake Which goes into action as soon as the current is applied to it, and is released when
 the current is shut off. It can be so regulated by springs as to stop the car
 at a definite predetermined place and
 any desired time after the current is
 applied or shut off An automatic
 controller is also placed on the car which reduces the speed of the car
 when turning corners or down grades,
 or when approaching stations. This again becomes a vital feature, consid-
 ering the possibility Of derailmeIt or
 the requirement Of too high rate Of
 acceleration There is also provided switch under the control of an attan- dant CT telegraph operator at the sev- eral stations along the route, by means
 of which the ear can be broughs to a stop at the required station or caused
 to pass by it, as desirld. This switch l is so connected with the conductor or 1 line wire as to cut any section of it out
 Of circuit without interTuptlng the
 main circuit and cutting off the supply Of electrical energy from ether cars t.t remote points along the line. Fer this reason the track is divided into as
 many sections as there are stations along the line, and each station is pro- vided with an insulated circuit break CT for the control of the section at each
 side of it. The trolley wire is sup ported by a specially designated trolley clip between the tracks, and as the car
 is intended to run at 6 nigh rate Of
 speed, the inventor has adopted a three-wheel trolley, which cannot pos
 sibly leave the wire.
 1 Having now given Q, general descrip-
 tion of the several devices employed by
 MT. McGurty, Q general idea Of their employment by looking into the meth
 cd of operation of the system is in or i der. The cars are sent away by a train 1 dispatcher from one end of the line.
 He instructs the operator at the sta- ticlr where the car is to be stopped that
 the car has started on it's journeT and should be stopped at his station. The operator then throws his station switch i thereby cutting the current of from a section of the track nsar the station 1 The car, arriving at the station, will
 find the track in this condition and will automatically have the brakes aprlled and stop at the appointed place. When | it is. again ready to proceed on its on-