Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1902-09-19
FUTURE EXPRESS TRAIN
Germany to Make Speed Tests
on One OF Her Lines.
PRIZES OFFERED FOR BEsTDEsIGgs

cased In a shell OF sheet SteeI-Ali
supernuous Dead Weight TO he
Avoided-Tender Will Garry Oniy
Five Tons of Water.
In a report TO the state department at
Washington Consul General Frank II.
Mason, at Berlin, gives some interest
ing information about the efforts now
being made in Germany TO develop high
speed on railways. The German Society
of Mechanical Engineers has offered a
series of prizes for the best design and
specifications for an express train ca
pable of carrying 100 passengers and
their baggage with personal comfort at
a speed of seventy-tive miles an hour.
"The purpose of this competition
says Consul General Mason, lis to pro-
vide unit of the equipment for the at
tainment of greatly accelerated speed in
railway travel, which can be adapted
to the present state railways of Prussia
without the tearing up and relaying Of
tracks with heavier ties and rails that
would be required for rapid electrical
service.
"An interesting forecast of the pend
ing competition has been given by MI
Arthur Kirchhoff, editor of technical
publication in Berlin devoted TO enSl-
neering and machinery, i'll which a de-
scription Is given of certain features OF
the new locomotives which are TO be
tested over the BerlinZossen line scXt
year. The specifications require mat
this express engine and train of the tu-
ture shall be able to maintain for three
consecutive hours speed of 10 Rio
meters GAS niles an hour, without
stopping for water or fuel and at a
minimum expenditure of motive power.
Mr.. Kirchhoff's outline of how this is
to be done will have a definite interest
to American engineers.
During the experiments of last au-
tumn an attempt was made to deter
mine as accurately as possible the
waste Of power entailed by the friction
and resistance of air to railway trains
at different rates of speed. 1t was found
that while at speed of 50 kilometerS
go niles per hour this resistance on a
still day was about 81 Kilograms (GI.2
pounds) per square meter of the sur
face Of the front end of the car the
rate increased very rapidly with the
augmentation of speed, so that at
pace of $50 kilometers (93.7 miles, the
resistance rose to 70 kilograms QJT.5
pounds) per square meter Of impinging
surface. Every projecting part, every
window, door or other indentation
which could form a pocket to catch
the wind created by such high veloci-
ties, increased the resistance to be
overcome, SO that in all future eX-
periments the economy of rapid tram
sit will require that the factor of air
resistance shall be taken into careful
account.
This, according to Mr.. KirchhOff, is to
be done by enveloping the engine and
train, from pilot to rear platform, III
a shell of sheet steel, jOinted so as to
secure fiexibility in passing curves and
SO constructed as to incloSe the loco
motive and cars in continuous tube,
uniform throughout in size and pre-
senting no projecting irregularity
which shall catch the resisting air,
The front of the engine will be pointed
or wedge shaped, the sheath will in
close as far as possible the running
gear Of the cars, and even the wheels
Of both engine and cars will be closed
disks Of metal instead of, as now,
spoked wheels with openings to catch
the air."
Another interesting fact mentioned
by Consul General Mason is that re-
cent experiments at Zossen demon
strated that electric motors when
worked at high rate of speed were a
greater strain on the roadbed than
steam locomotives. This is said to be
due to the fact that the center of gray
fly in the electric engines hangs much
lower than in the steam engines.
The new locomotive will rest or
twelve wheels-namely, two pairs OF
machine, with a four wheeled pivot
truck in front and rear. Upon these
three points Of support the boiler anf
superstructure will be hung upor
springs, adjusted to take up as far as
practicable the inevitable vibration
and oscillation.
The engine will be of the compound
type, with three cylinders, two con
nected outside and the third hung al
the center and connected inside, work
ing upon midaxle crank set at 80 de
grees from the crank pin of the two
outside cylinders, which are set op
posite each other. The boiler will have
an interior heating surface of 20(
square meters. Superfuous dead weigh
will be avoided. The new tender viii
take only five tons of water, and thai
en- route, as on some American lines
The new engine will have coal con
sumption of 1852 pounds per effective
horsepower per hour.
New Use For Wireless TeIeErapny.
The French submarine boat Triton
has recently been fitted with a com
plete wireless biography outfit hict
has been specially devised by Lieuten
ant Tadie of the submarine boat Alge
rien, says the Chicago News. During
some recent tests before Admiral -Four
nj tI,0 tr,aYN n .Nf j.,