The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-19
AIR POWER TEST.

Railroad Commissioner Cole Says
Compressed Air Is Power of Future.
New York Mail and Express.
Col. Ashley w. Cole, chairman of the
state board Of railroad commissioners,
Is an enthusiastic advocate Of air power
for street car motors to take the place
of electricity.
"Air power is superior to both cleo
tricity and steam." he said yesterday to a
reporter. 1t Is the coming motive force.
I think most experts are agreed on that.
cleanliness of the cars and the ease and
rapidity with which they can be han
died.
''It is superior to electricity because it
lacks those features which make over
head and underground trolleys danger
GUS. Trolley cars catch fire from cur
rents, and broken wires are a constant
menace to life on crowded streets.
1.-THE mass of overhead wires Injuries
tie sightliness Of the streets. Then. too,
the cost of an electric plant is very great
the generating plant especially, when
compared with a compressed air plant.
One strip of underground trolley conduit
in this city cost at the rate of 100000 a
mile, and the average cost of an under
ground trolley system is 100000 a mile.
1t is utterly inpracticable for any but
very populous cities to use the under
ground trolley. The roadbed of an air.
motor line is of the simplest descrip
ton.
Then there is not with air cars the la
bility to shocks for passengers and pc
destrians from faulty connections. The
compressed air cylinders never explode.
If the pressure becomes too great they
tear out at the side in a longitudinal sec
ton, and no pieces Of metal ever fly
about. The cylinders are usually tested
up to $500 pounds to the square inch,
whereas for railroad service they are
never charged beyond $500 pounds to the
a rule, when the cylinders are in use, is
only $50 pounds to the square inch.
THE air driven cars are put into mo-
ton so easily that you don't suffer from
the jolt of starting, as in the ordinary
electric cars, and there is not the deaf
ening bang and whirr that accompanies
electric transit. From the point Of view
of safety and beauty, compressed air cars
are far superior to electricity and steam
for street railway purposes.
But, superior as the air motor Is, i'm
provements are being made in them con-
stantly. Hardly month passes that
does not see some notable Improvement.
In two years, at the outside, expect to
see compressed air cars running in many
cities and towns where electric cars now
rum
Mr. Cole says that 1t would be great
saving in expense to the companies and
in annoyance to citizens If all future IN
staIlations in this city could be Of air
motor instead of underground construc-
ton.
1.-THE experiment with compressed air
cars on the Twenty eighth and Twenty.
ninth street cross-town lines has been
very successful" Mr.. Cole went on to,
say ''The Metropolitan company Is
about to test that line motor called
the Hardy motor. It Is claimed that this
motor will do with 600 pounds of air the
work that the Hoadley new model motor
requires 900 pounds to do, or that that
the Hoadley unimproved requires ,4OO
pounds to do. These tests are to decide
these points Mr.. Vreeland told me he
expected to equip all cross-town lines
with air motors. and l am told on the
best authority that two years ago Mr..
Widner wished to order 1000 air motors
for the Second Third, Sixth and Eighth
avenue lines, but that the engineers Of
the road advised in favor of electricity,
owing to the fact that air motors were
not an absolute success at that time l
think 1t Is only a question of time when
the elevated roads, also, will have COM
pressed air cars. The tests made on the
elevated with the air-motor engine L do
not consider fair 1 think 1t will be re-
peated some time soon, with successful
result.
The Hardy air-motor car to which Mr..
Cole referred, and which has been at
Rome. N. Y, has arrived in town, and,
after overhauling at the metropolitan
traction shops, will be put in service on
Twenty-eight and Twenty-ninth streets.
Several additional Hardy cars are to be
put on by the traction company at the
earliest possible moment.