The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-10-21

board. In this the letters that are TO he
used In designating the line over which the
car runs are sawed. over these letters. on
one side. strips of celluloid are fastened.
The signs are hung from the top Of the
fransom room by cast-iron hangers. which
are fitted with pockets into which cast-iron
tongues attached to the ends of the sign
boards fit closely.
And that is all there is to the sign. II is
not Patented. for the reason that il is only
an application of the Transparent sign
Idea. and is therefore not patentahIe. ANY
street-car line in the country Is at liberty
to use II. and welcome. SO far as ! am COR
cerned.
These signs are clearly visible for a long
distance. either In the daytime or after
dark. The natural color of the Ietters-in
the case of the polls ears 4, is white
is sufficient to bring them out plainly in
the daytime; at night the light from the
interior of the car. showing through the
transorns. clearly illumirates the trsnSpar-
'nt ce!luioid and makes the words almost
as prominent as they are in the daytime.
There is no intricate mechanism that can
get out of order: there Is little necessity
FOR repairs. and the first cost is not in ok
cess Of $50 = Car-four signs. IL the wood
Of which they arc made Is thoroughly sod
soned Their" is no danger Of warning or
splitting. hut To- further guard against such
an occurrence il is only necessary to fasteu
a small strip Of iron or steel across the
ends of the sicnhoards.
There Is no practical difference between
The side and the end signs. The end signs
are as long as the transoms are wide
the lines of the roof. The side signs are
about eight feet long. and are straight.
Both are made and hung in the same man
ner. or course. the signs and letters can
be OF any color desired. but | have founi
plain black and white the most satisfac-
tory. 1t is altogether practicable. however.
To further designate the cars by co,orS.
both in the painting OF the signs and In the
selection Of the celluloid; l have found 1t
advisable to paint the edges of the letters
In the same color as the. celluloid This
gives n larger letter for the daytime. al
though il does not affect the letters at
night"
MFR. Remclius entered further into the
mechanical details of construction. and this
Information has been given to the ST. Louis
street car managers.
President Whitaker showed great inter-
est In the sign when 1t was shown To him.
construction and its legibility when In ac-
tual use, but would not commit himself TO
an opinion as to the advisabiiity of en-
ployirg It IN st. Louis. He did not consider
the side signs necessary. saying they had
been tried in st. Louis and had not proven
topuiar. His attention was called 10 the
tact that no transparent side signs had ever
been used here. but did not admit a con-
version 10 the siie-sian idea.
General Manage Baumhoff was more en-
thus!astic. He discussed the construction.
the method Of using IT. suggested various
improvements in detail. and finally asked
permission TO submit the sample to his
master mechanic. After a night OF consid-
Grafton. he announced yesterday that ne
had given orders for the construction OF
three experimental sets. which he will put
INTO practical use as soon as possible.
President Turner examined the sign and
listened to the description of II with evil
dent interest, and asked a number Of ques-
tons. He made the objection that 1t was
not so quickly Interchangeable as the signs
his company now uses. He said that on the
suburban 1t was frequently the case that
a car was switched to another line before
II had completed the run It started out on,
III was rGipfaA ont fn him hnpavar that
as the Suburban has only three divisions. IL
rlcht he found practicable FOR those cars
which were likely to be switched to another
run to carry extra sets of signs. if. in fact.
II would he necessary for them to carry
any signs at all for the part OF a trip they
would make before reaching the power
house.