New-York tribune., 1901-06-03
ELECTRIC O.HNIBUSES.
A NEW STORAGE BATTERY MAKES THEM
POSSIBLE.

The New-York Electric Vehicle Transportation
Company. which operates large number of
cabs controls the old Fifth-ave stage line and
the recently enlarged privileges of the latter
H. Sanderson president of the company, said
yesterday that the reason why the development
Of the electric omnibus service had been delayed
so long was that difficulty had been experienced
in finding satisfactory storage battery. Now.
however. this had been overcome. and active
steps were beng taken provide much needed
transportation facilities.
The Fifth-ave. stages from Bleecker
st. 70 ne-hundred- and thrtyf ffth-st. At Fifty
seventh-st. transfer IS given TO branches ex-
tending to and up Broadway as far Seventy
seCond-st There is another line running through
the latter street from the Park Riverside
Drive. and then northward to One-hundred- and
tenth-st. one may here transfer TO a crosstown
line a fifth route extends up Seventh-ave. from
the northern limit Of Central Park 10 Macomb's
Dan. End comes hack down through st. Mich
cIas and Manhattan -aves Finally. there is
transfer from Fifth-ave. at East Seventy-sec-
cnd-st Altogether. more than twenty-five miles
a re covered by this service.
New and CommodIous omnibuses have been
ordered FOR these various routes. and number
OF them are expected to be ready for use by
August l. These vehicles VIII be capable of
holding thirty-fo four persons whereas the old
electric stages accommodate only twelve. More
over they viii be high enough permit tall
man wearing a silk hat 10 stand erect without
fear OF contact with the roof. Like the horse
drawn omnibus in use. the new electric
stages will be double deckers. but unlike those
venerable relics OF an age that is rapidly pass
ing they will have rubber tires. and afford lux
urious not TO say elegant. transportation.
THE NEW BATTERY TESTED
The new battery which Mr.. Sanderson has in
mind is one which has been evolved out of the
old lead plate accumuator by the experts of the
Electric Storage Company of Philadelphia.
which controls large number Of patents, among
them those on the so-cailed chloride accumula-
tor" Mr. Entz chief engineer Of the last men
toned company has been largely instrumental
in perfectirg the new cell. The work was under
taken chiefly for the New-York Electric Vehicle
TRANSFORMATION Company. under whose auspices
elaborate tests have been made in the last six
months. Since about January L twenty or
thirty carriages have been running with the new
battery some of them having already traversed
a total distance Of 1000 or 1900 miles At the
present time fully one hundred vehicles are sup
piled with the new aCcumulators. and total
mileage of over seventy thousand has now been
made Mr. SandersOn feels that these facts,
taken with others that he mentions. justify the
feeling that a great triumph has been achieved.
and that his company is In a much better posi-
ton to undertake the long talked Of stage SER
vice than it year ago
In his paper regarding the new Edison battery
a fortnight ago DIR. Kennedy said that the Man
chester chloride" battery weighed from 124 to
1S6 pounds per horsepower. whereas the ac-
cumu!ator which ne described weighed 53.3
pounds Mr. Sanderson calls attention to the
fact that the 1856 pound battery is made for CEN
forq he
battery used by his company last year weighed
cnlv 124 hounds per horsepower. The new bat
terv which the Philadelphia experts have
evolved and which is called the "Exide weighs
only sixty-two pounds per horsepower. Hence.
for the same weight the capacity and mileage
are doubled. Mr.. Sanderson regards the hgures
given for Edisons battery as largely con1ecturai'
tnasmuch as no large cell has yet been manu-
factured. And for powers OF endurance the
exide has been subjected to Infinitely more IN
structive trials
SOME OF ITS ADVANTAGES.
second great advantage which the exlde
possesses over the chloride battery is that the
"active material" oxide of lead. does not be-
come detached from the plates and form mud"
in the bottom OF the cell. There is no danger
of the Juice giving out prematurely. and a
carriage becoming stalled.
"An that you put into the battery in the form
Of electricity" says Mr.. Sanderson. you can
get out again. statement of the highest i'm
portance.
The deterioration is vastly less than that of
the batteries which they have replaced in Mr..
Sanderson's vehicles hence much longer run
can now be made with these carriages than for
merly. A man can go down to Manhattan
Beach and back. out to Morris Park and
turn, with no fear of a breakdown. In city
streets from thirty-five to forty-ffve miles can
be covered with one charge. And that appalling
grade over in New-Jersey opposite Fort Lee has
been climbed without difficulty
These results will seem the surprising
to persons who are familiar with storage bat
teres when il is known that the exide is one
of those in which the ''active material Is pre-
pared and applied in the form of a paste. 1t
belongs TO the Faure type, rather than the
Plante type. In the latter the active material
Is formed by much slower process. but is sup
posed to remain in place more securely. But
Mr.. Sanderson declares that this exide battery
has now been tried sufficiently to demonstrate
Its marked superiority oyer all pasted batteries.