New-York tribune., 1903-06-15
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE ELECTROMAGNETIC RAILWAY.
Inventor Says Objections Rest in Inaccurate
knowledge

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: The article in last Sundays issue Of your
esteemed paper, treating my magnetic railway
system, is, to say the least. utterly incorrect. and
a matter of fairness. I should appreciate it II
you would print the few following lines
The article goes on mentioning various disad-
vantageous features, etc. for which reason The
Tribune thinks it unlikely that the invention VIII
receive serious attention from capitalists and cleo
tricaI engineers, etc.
Every point thus dwelt upon in the said article
has been carefully studied again and again by me-
and 1 you that your objections if you viii
take the trouble of sending representative to in
vestigate, will be satisfactorily shown to rest on
inaccurate knowledge of the principle involved
have never said that one horsepower motor
would be sufficient for any rate of speed; have
simply stated that. no matter almost what the
weight might be of some body suspended IN TINS
manner 1t could be moved by less than one horse
power and this l still insist upon to be true that
does not mean that horsepower should be
sufficient to sustain high rate Of speed
1t is also certain that capital will not be lacking
when needed for the proper Introduction or thls
system Nor is it correct when your article states
that at intervals during the last couple OF years
something has been heard about this invention.
The whole thing is not year old yet. For every
claim I have made on this subject many govern
ments have granted me patent protection
That it will attract the attention of electrical
engineers is also incorrect. for scores have been
here examining into the matter. and all-but few
who could hardly be considered electrical engineers
have expressed themselves very faVorapy as 10
the possibilities of this system.
The Tribune must know that the tendency in
which reason any new road built is more econoHl-
caly constructed than any ordinary roadLthat Is.
yond question, the economy Of construction ana
operation is obvious that not one single dissent,
Ing voice has as yet been heard among all those
who have seriously looked d. into 9TH the matter Ihere
is no hysteresis involved whatever: ,,+o-os ,,,+
Slight eddy currents VIII be encountered Out
No eIectroIvsis is active here.
The current required for the exctauon Oh @ .Lle
magnets can be shown to be of small c9nse9uen1ce
power, speed and other advantages obtainable in
this manner of applying magnetic force
also baseless. In reading the same it sounds as II
the magnets would reach almost from the track TO
magnets, properly attached. with lifting capacity
of of Ea t9Rs %h the B bulk not Of
contrary, they will not as much out OF pro-
portion as do present sets Of TheeS e. ALBERrsoN
New-York June 9. 1903.
Interviews with Mr.. Albertson and other cleo
trical and traction experts fail to inspire any
increased confidence in the general merit OF MS
plan. Quite apart from the feasibility OF over
coming gravitation by magnetism. several oper-
ative and economical problems are raised. Mr.
Albertson's computations may be right or they
may be wrong Possibly he has underestimated
such factors as atmospheric resistance. A mini
ature model car, moving slowly for ten or flf-
teen feet, does not fully illustrate the phe-
nonena Of high speed on q full size road. The
Street Railway Journal" two or three weeks ago
called it "the weirdest electric railway PROPOSE
ton that we ever had the pleasure of examln-
ing" Nevertheless, The Tribune admires the
ingenuity of the scheme, and If Mr.. Albertson
ever succeeds in reducing the cost OF eiectnc
traction below the present level it will gladly
record the fact.l