Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1899-02-14
COMPRESSED AIR MOTORS
New Power is Fast Coming Into
Favor.
New York Lines 10 Be Operated By Air
MotorS-Ten Cents a Mile Per Car
Other Cities Experimenting.

New York, Dec. 23.-Within
the next twelve months compress.
ed air will be put to use in oper-
ating SUBURBAN and street rail-
ways in New York and other Ame-
rican and English cities. The
question OF power for the hand
ling of such traffic has narrowed
down to the alternative of COM
pressed air or electricity, and the
decision in favor of one or the
other OF these is likely to be in
fluenced by local conditions.
For some years electricity has
held the field without dan
gerous rival, but there are abund-
ant indications that from this
time on 1t must share the honors
with the new motive power.
The compressed air plant now
being established by the Metro
politan Traction company in
New York is nearly com pleted,
and by the end of February ten
air-motor cars will be in operation
on the compsny's Twenty eighth
and Twenty-ninth streets cross
town line. Following this, a belt
line connecting the ferries and
raj way stations and covering the
hotel and shopping districts will
be established. If the present
plans of the Metropolitan compa-
ny are carried. out, all the cross.
town lines in New York city, with
one or two exceptions, will be
equipped with air motors in the
course OF the coming two years.
CHICAGO AND ST. LOUIS ALSO
EoUIPPING.
Although the New York line
will the first in this country to be
operated entirely by compressed
air, it will not long remain the
only one. One of the Chicago
lines is to be fitted with air power
during the coming summer, and
negotiations for the equipment Of
part of st. Louis system are
nearly completed. The officers Of
the American Air Power company,
who control the rights of the com.
pressed air system, have been in
consultation recently with street
railway men from a number of
western cities, and it is expected
that some of them will adopt air
power soon on their lines.
Moreover, it is possible that the
success of the American system,
a, demonstrated by its> actual
operation, may lead to its adoption
on the London underground roads.
j. Allen Baker, an expert en-
gineer, who was sent over to this
country to investigate the subject,
recently returned to London and
submitted his report. He COM
pares compressed air with the gas
power now in use on the Black
pool line in London, and his con.
illusions are decidedly favorable to
the former. Mr.. Baker finds that
not only is air power cheaper
than gas, but it is superior in
cleanliness and is noiseless 10
operation, two important consider.
ations on an underground line.
ON RAILROAD SUBURBAN LINES.
In addition to these develop
ments, it is said that the NewYork
Central railroad is preparing to
use air-motor engines in its yard
operations and in hauling trains
through the tunnel at the New
York eud of the road and on their
Putnam division.
A compressed air engine has
been used for some time in the
Yards of the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe road at Topeka, for
switching, and is reported to have
worked satisfactorily.
When it is added that COM
pany is being formed in NewYork
to utilize the air motor in running
automobile carriages, it will be
seen that 1899 promises to be
great year for compressed air in
number of ways.
The American Air Power com
pany, which controls both the
Hardie and the Hoadley motors, is
capitalized at 100000, and
among those said to be chiefly in
terested in it are p. A. II. Wind
ener. William G.. whitney and the