New-York tribune., 1904-08-05
LETTERS 10 THE EDITOR.
THE CRUSH AT THE BRIDGE.
Mr. Curtiss Modifes His Plan for Securing
Relief.
To the Editor Of The tribune,

To the Editor Of The Tribune
Sir; The faults you hnd in my solution OF the
bridge problem in your editorial of July % the
result Of assumption your part The time
required to board and aight from the moving train
is an important element in the problem, but I oo-
ject to your figures You assume, without warrant,
that only One-haIf of the platform edge is in
tact with the cars. The periphery Of a 2)0-foot
Platform is G2S feet As the bridge IS only s. feet
wide il IS necessary that tho parallel lines OF the
endless train within this distance. ana my
plan is to the track Of the elevated cars. it
would require the parallel lines to be within % feet
Of each other Allowing for easy curves in chang
ing from circular L. rectincar motion have
about 500 Nnea feet OF cars in contact with plat
form AT twenty miles hour this system viii
transport $4,000 passengers, and ten miles
hour nearly S0.oo0 and give them double the car
floor space they now have. This is larger number
than present desire transportation. The limit
OF capacity of trolley and elevated is s. coo. 1t
follows that speed OF ten miles IS sufficient. and
as car and platform are in contact while moving
-" ieet the time occupied Is more than thirty sec
onds instead OF seven and half twelve Even
AT twenty miles hour it is fifteen seconds.
Neither could there be waiting. crowding or in
reference from loading and unloading - the same
time for several reasons. At the crush hours
heary all passengers are moving in the same di-
~ecuon As the stairways leading from above ard
from below have Il total of 90 li1eal feet and the
edge OF platform has G2S iincal feet il passengers
move l2 the stairs abreast a TWO feet apart when
-
lonesome while boarding tho cars This is q policy
OF diffusion of the mos strenuous kind instead of
concentration The speed OF cars and size Of plat
form were assumed 20 illustrate this plan. and
for the same reason l showed tha. two anG one
half million passengers may be transported an
hour over the bridge by j. The demand for trans
portation may be readily determined. and if city
Itah Park is available a 400-foot platform could
1a usec The automatic gates are not essential
ana my re dispensed With without effectiuE the
capacity OF this plan BY using "a moving cable
= [
prevent q tie up The frequency with whice
tney now occur is due 20 the use Of electricity.
VITA this plan t. viii he necessary 10 transfer ar
9al.Is-S- auc aJ PARK Row as az present the
O2c 5penceriar student from Boston would have
oo-e Wei - have read the descriptive article OF
@ .Pre crlrlelslnS y lie would then have seen thas
TIE centrifugal force had been considered ard that
Lle surface ot the platform is designed to be per
ptllglss.llar 70 the resultant OF the gravity and
ensllecEiIg. His simple calculation from physical
Eli'IptcS winch shows that with q speed OF
SL-tIY mics an hour a E9-pound man this plat
4o-Ht "r-iC nave centrIfueal force OF eighty
toLA1s or eq1at TO a 'torry-tve degres slope is
Dts 1Ifl our comprehension. AS TO his statement
tAat the centrifugal force decreases as the radius
Is tns only place IN the un nvc~ve whore 81 = trtie
So iar az heard froc, Ir other parts the world
J-5 Iece is I1easaTcc by the following calculation.
Centrifugal fp-re equals oH12t times weight in
pounds times number If eyrfutOns tre~ minute,
squared. times racice ot circle dn feet and from
Il-s We OBTAIN the formula thar centrifugal forCa
an ION itl~t iHe coLcaT4tE OF the platform is
determined - counteract the centrifugal force
our beloved speueerlau friend has our sincere
s. mpathE. aid We are wearied al the lack OF ap-
! If.dtlpa ana deep ignorance existing tu in
Brooklyn \. y. july 80 lsoai - -