The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-12-17
HEATING OF STREET CARS.
4 tOMPLIC5TED NATTER WHICH
sCIEytE rs IMPORTING.


Unite of n Crowded Car-1horouRh study
OF the Problem Going on Constantly.
When a homegoing man, chilled Ia the bone
| In the raw December air gctsinto nm empty Broad
way car in the small hours " the morning aud
Struggles ND shiyerng close to the hot water
heater In the corner he is likely to wonder whether
there is science II car heating, and II there is
what the railroad men know about II. lie turns
up his coat collar plungos his hands deep into his
side pockets and frowns at the conductor who
| comes In after his fare leaving the sliding doors
wide open lie answers the conductors Cold
night sor with all ploson, and II the mercury Ii
very low and the homegoing man Ii in pugna
| ciouus frame " mind, he asks petuantly: why
are these cars cold this time O day? Company
saving coalg' The conductor tells him, The
night air. sir. suppose. but this doesn't salts
fy the passenger who. being in a reflective mood,
| thinks u the comfortable rides home he has had
Un other nights Just as biting IN these same cars
| Something must be- wrong with the heater
| the pipes frozen or something u that kind the
| man decides, and he makes a mental menlvran
dun 10 write 10 his newspaper the next day telling
the editor that something ought tn be done 10
compel the street railway companies To heat their
cars He pictures in his minds eye Senator
Strikem introducing bill at Albany, result u
the homegoing mans crusade. making 1t a mis-.
|
"r both. for stree, railway company to operate
car with a temperature lower than 81 de.
grees, +
But as the car rInblrs along upio wn aud more
| shivering late gOers get ON, the home going man
| finds he IL getting warm, and he takes his hands
| out of his pockets, unbut,vns his coat and moves
| away from the corner heater The heating appa
| ratus has thawed out. he opines. More bela,ed
| travellers board the car and IL becomes uncom.
| fortably flled All the time IL grows warmer.
and the self appointed leader II the anti cold car
| crusade Ii glad when n new passenger crowds
into the car and brings in n breath u fresh cold
| air He may even get Out IN the back platform
when nearing home because he is uncomfortabiy
warm In his heavy coat And. II he IL not a
| suckler for consistency. he tells the conductor
| that he In making a Black Hole ~ the car and
| he ought to open things up. The conductors
Can please everybody all the time. sir" doesn't
smooth the RULED crusader lie will expose the
| company's antediiuyian car heating methods
aud have Senator StriLem include in the Anti
| Cold Car Bill clause making Il an equally pun.
ishablc crime IL run cars heated above 90 I.
But the next day The crusader 81 the night before
| rides down To- his Office in ears well heated, his
mail eugrosses his attention. and he forgets all
about his discomfort u the night before An.
| other popular crusade dies in the chrysaIs
Now. the street railway men do stud, the prob.
lem of keeping their cars al an even temperature
in the winter. and II is one Of the mosi Derplc1
| things they have lo deal with The matter OF
heating steam railroad coach, the doors Of which
are opened only at stations far apart where there
| is not The continuous getting ON and getting OF
| Of passengers. is simple compared With the ever.
railway men do not say they have mastered The
| heating problem and they doubt II they ever will
But any New Yorker needs only To recall that bar.
| barihn relic, the horse ear stove oi few years
ago Ia recognize the fact that great progress in
car heating has been made very recently. and
that the dscomforts Of 10 day are as nothing com.
| pared 10 those Of a short time ago. Sometimes
one hears II said that the street railway companies
don't bother much about the com fort Of their pas.
| s-ngrrs Nothing could bc further from the ruth
| The companies are seeking bigger earnings frst
| OF all and nobody knows better than street rail
way man in This town how sensitive earnings are
| I" The whims Of the public. Uncomfortable cars
cut down earnings Just as surely as comfortable
this s found in ~ the old crossown lines 81 the
| town and one too. that seemingly does very
old hor NJ cars for modern rolling stock operated
| by air motors has resulted in the Increased at
Tic man who suffered first ' from the isc I'S II
| heat and then from the superb bundance IL IL in
the cablr car might have sccn II Ii. had been wide
awake, that every new passenger wasa carhra,er
| IN himself, and that It was animal heat that made
the ear mrs, comfortable and then uncumio rtabiy
warm Were II not for the help 81 animal heat,
the artificial car heaters wouldn't Nv II any great
| service in the bitterly cold days III New York
s % Of eTR Ps y. aS7 , mnSe
| showing why II is So much easier to keep cars
warm during the rush hours than late al night
lie hRures out that, in zero weather to keep short
empty car heated IL 81. II ~ necessary 10 pro.
duce 20 600 British thermal units an hour-a
| 4" raise the temperature 81 n pound 81 water one
degrsc when the temperature outdoors rises
| !" l2'i nbnNr zero only l2.OOO heat units an
| hour are required To maintain the 66o standard
| but load a car with passengers. every one II
whom ia heater, and thousands 81 n T Us
| are at once supplied.
One passenscr--an average human being
gives out enough heat 10 raise the temperature
the freezing poi Ito the boiling point in twenty.
four hours; or. In an hour one passenger gives
fore would half heat short car in zero weather
and Carrying this agurng 70 the pa weather;
| ing o3 passengers into a twenty foot car they
no artificial heater would b. needed. Records
with an outside s Of eoH ss", R %.s
mos. needed IN the early morning hours when
pie wero all homewaId bound the animal heat
was nearly enough I. maintain the 65' standard.
Tsse big da d;l nee. bswocn theory and
| many slips and turns To spoil a hnr reckoning.
hut even though We don't know how many
up and down broadway, rs easy 10 sce thai
every full booded passenger added to a street
| cars company raises the temperature Of The car;
Just az church. when the exion opens the doors
| " a comfortable place. hut when a big congrega.
'ion has be- in i for an hour it's s,iningly hot
In stove heated horse car on n zero weather
day and then transfer 10 an electric car with It's
| unseen electric heating apparatus 10 feel what
an Improvement has been made in car heating
In the past few years, No stove. which pours
oul all IT'S heat from one point. making the car an
oven in one part and n cold storage box every
| where else can compete with heating systems
| whether they he hot water or electric which
| spread the heat through the length Of the car
| Inc Nay 10 warm passenger IN from his feet
up The stove does the reverse. The heat asccnds
from the top OF the stove Ia the roof Of the car and
presses down ON the heads of the passengers Civ
ing them hot To breathe while their feet re cold
hut the aim 81 the elerttiC and hot water sys
| TENS, wherein the heating apparatus IL spread
under the seats near the car floor is 10 warm the
passengers from their feet up, giving them cooler
mat IN electrically heated cars the air near the
floor ~ about 250 warmer than the air the passen-
| gers breathe.
| Gable cars are heated by hot water for lack
81 convenient source Of electricity 10 supply
| electric heaters The visible part Of the heating
apparatus in broadway cable cor the wrs:
| Gagged stove cylinder " only the beginning OF
| the Affair for down below there is a lille coal
furnace, which heats n coil OF water pipe and
lhe pipe leads into hot water reservoir and then
along under the car seats from one end Of the