The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-05
MAIL TO MOVE
LIKE LIGHT MING
Scheme to Carry Letters Four
Miles a Minute Is De-
clared Prac ticable.

Signor Piscicelli a scientist of Rome,
has invented a mechanism for carrying
letters and parcels which is so novel and
promises such good results that the Ital-
ian government is seriously thinking Of
using 1t throughout the country in place
of the present mail service One reason
why it prefers Signor PiScicellis method
Is because, according to the inventor, by it
letters and parcels can be transmitted from
one place to another at a speed, If de-
sired, of $50 miles an hour, and another
reason IS because the cost of trans m1SSlon
would be much less than it is at present
In Germany and France little is yet
known of the new invention, but the
few experts who have examined it praise
1t highly and say that it possesses many
advantages over the present method of
carrying letters.
Signor Piscicellis scheme is to have
wires strung at height Of forty-five feet
above the ground and to have as vehicles
boxes Which are to contain mail and
which are to be rolled along the wires
70 any distance that may be necessary.
Inc boxes are to be on rollers which will
Mt closely to the wires, and the posts sup
porting the wires are to be 800 feet apart
from each other. Moreover the boxes are
10 be made of aluminium and when filled
WIN letters and packages they must not
Melgh more than seventy pounds each
Furthermore, to each post is to be at
tached a double wire so that the boxes
may never be impeded, but can run in
both directions at the same time
Guarded Against Thieves.
AS the wires are SO high above the
GROUND no thief will be able to snatch
on ne4 OF tnem unless he climbs one of the
RR ostS ana II ne ventures to do this Signor
PIsc1celli will see that he will receive an
electrlc shock which will surprise him. IT
1 Is extremely doubtful, however if this
VIII ever be necessary and for the sin1niS
reason that the boxes will Ne going YER,
4aSt ana 1t Will not be easy for a thief
70 ,, 9plslodge one unless he has a gun
owl ne exact manner in which these boxes
are 70 be propelled has not yet been d.
Vulged. but it is supposed that thew viii
We pFoVlded with electric motors In anv
Ease ID the inventor claims that they can
ne run at the rate of $50 miles an hour
ana that if desired 1000 can be Started
On On thelr Journey every sixty minutes a
o odais OF 100 yards being left between
each. AS the boxes themselves are ex
lTemely light and as each, when filed.
welghS about seventy pounds it will be
seen tnat at this rate large quantity of
1 nan HlaCIer can be diSpa tched every hOur
1 ne d0tal weight of the 5000 boxes would
De 2SO, 600 pounds-far too heavy a load
one would o. think for few suspended
wires 10 pear. 1t must be remembered
however, that there is to be a distance
OF 100 yards between the boxes and as
mere Is to be similar distance between
t tt no TWO posts will ever be called upon
10 support more than one box between
them at one time.
Has All the Celebrity Needed.
Sgr; Piscicelli says that his invention
VIII DO all this. but he points out that it
QISDaICn
boxes filled with mail matter every hour
and therefore he thinks that if constant
ana steady service is required it would
pc best to dispatch from eighty to 100
DoXeS an hour and leave a distance of
two or three miles between each A Ger
man postal official who has looked close
ly into the matter Is of the same opinion.
Indeed, he doubts if any wire railroad
that could be constructed would be able
! to bear the weight of 4, 900 of these boxes.
assuming that the distance between each
was not more than 100 yards.
1t is estimated that the Piscicelli sys-
tenn could be established throughout Italy
at cost of about $500 per mile and that
through the Introduction of the system
the government would save several mil
lion dollars
Though full credit must be given to the
Italian inventor for his work he was not
the first to devise railroad of this kind
ABOUT Twelve years ago a somewhat SIM
liar railroad, in which Prof A. E. Dol
bear was interested and which was known
as the''pOrt electric SYSTEM" was con-
structed in Boston. 1t did not consist,
however, of wire ropes, but of rails. be-
tween which mail wagons ran. Each
wagon had four wheels, was in the shape
of a cylinder and was pointed at both
ends. The rails were laid on posts at
height of about four feet from the ground
and the speed which was attained ex-
ceeded 100 miles an hour. Much was
pected from this system, but unexpected
obstacles, principally in connection with
ascent and curves, soon presented them
selves and the enterprise was abandoned.
New York Herald