The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-27

four, the outer air will be nearer, and the
subway itself will be practically four times
as wide
The ventilation in the Paris underground
has proved even worse than in the London
tubes. This helped to increase the horror
in the recent disaster. It turned out after
the accident that because Of complaints
from women of q draught down the stair
WAYS double set Of swinging doors had been
installed; and when the smoke from the
burning cars filed the tunnel the closed
doors, Of course, prevented ite escape and
were responsible in q great measure for
the deaths from sufocation. There will
be no closed doors to keep the bad air in
the New York subway.
In these surroundings the passenger will
find himself below ground. BY and by,
when his train comes along and he steps
aboard, he will find himself in car very
much like one Of the present elevated cars,
but with improvements.
First of all, the subway train will be
vestibuled fran end to end. 1t will have
instead Of iron gates, damned back upon
the crowd when the train is filled, AZ on
the elevated doors with plate glass panels
in the upper sections, sliding into sockets
in the side of the car. thereby giving up
the whole platform to passengers. Then
the cars, 500 of which are now being de-
livered In patches for trial on the Second
Avenue elevated road. are longer, slightly
wider and with roofs slightly lower than
those Of the elevated cars.
Instead OF the lower sashes Of the windows.
the upper sash is arranged to open. and
it il provided with q rubber ratchet
SO that It may be opened an inch only or
for it's whole length. This arrangement
Is intended to prevent passengers from
injury by putting their heads or arms out
OF tho window. It will save the company
many damage suits.
In their interior appearance. though.
the cars will not be unlike the elevated's
present carriages. There will be the same
cross seats. the same rattan covering.
The cars will be three feet longer and about
three inches wider-that is all.
But an adequate description Of the safety
devices with which they will be equipped
would fill book. More thought and in
genuity have been expended on the m than on
any other feature Of the subway. for 1t is
realized what serious blow would be given
to underground transit in New York by a
serious accident, such as Paris has just had,
early in the roads career.
The safety devices extend to the smallest
matters. For instance, with sliding en-
trance doors there might be q possibility
Of a mans coat or a woman's gown beir
caught just before the train moves and CT
the wearer being dragged along the plat
form. That will 10 impossible.
To guard against it there is set along
the jamb of each door q semicircular band
of rubber. The door may close upon a
trailing garment, but even so, with the
slightest exertion Of force the rubber gives
and the garment can be pulled loose.
When trial train was run over the ele-
waited week or two ago, this point was
raised To demonstrate the effectiveness
of the device, Mr.. George Gibbs, the con-
sulting engineer under whose supervision
all OF the subway's equipment has been
devised, stood on the platform, leaving
his coattail caught in the closed door, and
! ordered the train to start.
| When II moved, almost without an effort
| he pulled the coat free. The movement
! of the train did not even change his po-
sition on the platform.
! This care to avoid minor accidents hat
been extended equally to preventing more
| serious ones. In the first place, the can
will be az nearly fireproof as light passenger
coaches can he made The floor consists
| first OF thin steel plate, above it thin maple
| planking, then doubled asbestos rolled
felt and quarter inch thick asbestos tran
sit board. Then finally comes the tor
LAYER Of wood. The roofs and the sides
below the belt line, will be sheathed with
copper All wires are carried in ducts
surrounded by asbestos and steel
A marble switchboard in a steel case
is in the rear of each car. II the conductor
should have reason to believe that the
insulation was defective and that thu
escaping electricity might set fire to thu
car, he wouldn't even have to stop the trail
to prevent it.
All he need do is to step to this board ant
open a switch. This would cut the ca
entirely out OF tho circuit. The train woult
not be out Of running order. but woult
carry the disabled car along.
But should the conductor desire to stoI
the train suddenly he can do SO on his owl
account He will not even have to sigma
the motorman.
Above the signal rope in each car is an
other strap working what ts technically
known as a conductors valve A pull
on this shuts Of the power, automatically
sets the air brakes and will bring the trail
to a standstill within a few feet, even II
is going at full speed.
The precautions against fire are carries
out equally against collisions. Should Their
be crash it is believed that It could hardl.
be very serious, for the cars are built will
steel frames and are practically non
telescope. II one car was forced upo
another 40 that the platforms overlapped
before the body Of the car could be injured
it would be necessary to shear throug
eight inches Of solid steel posts.
But the subway equipment LIS PLANES
with the idea OF avoiding collisions so ia
as human ingenuity can do so. The car
carry two lines Of air pipes-a main reservoi
and a train line pipe. When the train /
in motion the former is charged with ninet
pounds OF compressed air to the squar
inch; the train line pipe carries sevent
pounds pressure to the square inch.
Any reduction in the train line pressur
causes the brakes on the entire train t
set automatically and simultaneously; an