The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-06-28
To TRAVEL 300
MILES AN HOUR.
Inventor Claims He Can Revolu.
tionize Speed by the Use
Of Magnets.

a lighter railroad structure!
A ten-horse instead Of 3to-power enginsi
Such ia the attractive claim made FOR an
invention of Doctor Albert C. Aibertson, q
distinguished electrical engineer OF the
Royal Un!verui;y OF Denmark At present
Mr.. Albertson is G citizen o. the United
States
It is purposed to accomplish this wonder
By means OF magnetism.
Already he has perfected his system and
obtained international patents.
Many electrical and mechanical engineers
who have examined the invention through
the publicity given II IN the Patent Office
have been impressed with the saneEess oil
the proposition and the practicabii!ty of the
application OF a principle as old rs cleo
tric.ty Itself.
Doctor Albc-tson's invention aims simply
10 overcome the weight Of the presen; mil
way train by means OF powerful magnets
They arc attached 20 the bottom Of the cars
IN such way as 10 lift the wheels and rem
der a i.0JC-pou.d car as light as one pound.
The attraction Of gravity being thus OYER
come. the heaviest train becomes as light
as air and can be rushed along the tracks
with only atmospheric resistance TO con-
tend with
The magnets clamp the rail above and he-
low so that Il IS impossible for the train
20 leave the track.
MAXIMUM SPEED NOT REACHED.
At present sixty miles hour-a mile
minutes practically the maximum speed.
and to accomplish this the weight an3
drawing power Of the locomotive have been
Increased until 2.ora-hprse- -ows< engine
must be attached 10 the front Of "a flyer.
As the weight OF The engine Increases the
weight OF the rails carrying the engine IN
creases. rs does the general wear and tear
on the road bed.
Eighteen hours to Chicago has been the
maximum result. Tie limit Of weight, pow
er and speed has been reached. anu the
railroads. acknowledge themselves unable To
DO much better.
Two things defeated the attainment Of
greater speed-the 1ead weight OF The train
and aerial resistance.
Now comes the announcement that there
nas been discovered method Of abolishing
tho dead weight Of the train, leaving only
aerial resistance 10 be contended with.
II this can be done. rs Mr. Albertson as
serts, half of the battle is won. and inc
world may yet be able 10 travel on the
sarth's surface with the much-dreaInec-of
speed Of hundreds OF miles an hour. For
many years the great principle OF magnet
ism has been known 10 electricians and
used IN practical work BY laymen.
Steel companies have found the magnet
useful IN lifting huge metal Orders. AZ ono
end Of their lifting apparatuses they have
Il
the steel bars and lifts them. matter
how great their weight
It has been noticed that a magnet would
move to come in contact with the steel bar
ss soon a. II arrived within the drawing
radius carrying any amount OF weight with
Il which happened TO be attached at the
time
II was this principle which Doctor Albert
son sought to make use of-the lifting pow
er of a magnet when attracted TO a fixed
rail of steel
he arranged q series Of magnets under
miniature car running ON steel railway
track. Tho magnets were insulated and at
tached to the bottom of the car 30 that they
came under the raj! and about an inch be-
low II.
Then he turned OF enough electricity to
make the magnets active. They rose up
ward toward the rail. lifting the car bodily
, In the air.
The weight Of the train was thus simply
overcome!
AN ACTUAL TEST
Tho inventor next loaded heavy metal IN
70 his miniature car un.n Il weighed sew
eral tons.
The magnets clnmped tightly against the
rail and refused to slide easily.
But as he loaded on tho weights no found
that the car moved easier the more weight
he applied up to the point where a balance
was determined between tho weight above
low.
The entire weight of me car and its load
was held up by magnetic force. Practically
tho attraction OF gravitation was abolished
The invention is simple. The train readily
slides upon its magnets. the underside Of
the track being kept well oiled.
The wheels are left above tho magnets
running on the top of the rail without
carrying any weight. but simply left there
10 act as guide for the train and TO pre-
vent It from leaving the track.
I High speed is. therefore, perfectly safe
1T is all a matter OF plus and minus"
pays Doctor Albertson- IF you have a num-
Der Of magnets attached to your car under
the rail, adhering with force equal to
eleven tons and you add weight Of ten
tons to your car you havo one ton OF pres
sure remaining
This pressure iB distributed through q
number OF magnets, snd the power re-
CURED to slide them along the rail will
Be very small
II have great hopes for the future OF the
electro magnetic railway. It Will be better
than any present system. in that II can
generate nvo tifnes tho speed. even to 300
miles an hour.
There will DO one-si1th Of the expense IN
Iron structure and running power because
the rails can be made lighter and the horse
power OF the engine reduced from 3Oao to
10; there win be no noise or vibration for
the train will not roll, but slide: sleepins
cars will no longer be necessary, for Frisco
will be only ten hours away, and railroad
building viii be less expensive, because the
structure upon which the trains will nm
can DO elevated and supported by a single
iron pnar. rendering the purchase OF a
, great ground area unnecessary. There will
also be no grade crossings and no acct
oentz-"
EURTHER EXPERIMENTS,
Travelling at such a high rate of speed.
metal upon metal. It would seem that the
magnets. like the Journals in the bearings
OF the present car wheels would heat I'D
to such an extent as TO burn out. In order
to settle this question. the inventor made
several experiments, but with one result
the magnets remained cool. This Is readily
explained
The axles Of the ordinary train reyclye
continually upon the Same bearing, but the
magnets are continually passing along a
cool rail.
Heat and cold interchange quickly and
all the heat generated by the magnets IL
any, was quickly absorbed by the cold of
the rail. And then there was another sur
prise
1t WIS found that less electricity was
necessary TO keep the magnets charged aft
Ter the train was in motion. Magnets have
lSever been used to slide in this way before
and there was nothing in the textbooks
about them Doctor Albertson made the
valuable discovery, which may some day he
incorporated IN the textbooks that a mag
net moving with one pole back of the other
slides with less charging force because the