The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1905-06-30
ROLLING ROAD FOR HORSES.
A Novelty in Transportation Recently
IA l.. 49, 4. ~In..aI.nA

A Novelty in transportation Recently
Put in Service in Cleveland.
A novelty in the war of Transports
ton has been recently put in service
at Cleveland. In that city most of
the freight houses, coal yards, lum-
Der yards. and many manufacturing
plants. are located in the fats along
the Cuyahoga River, while the city
at large is on a level IS feet higher.
A vast amount of teaning is done
from the fats, wagons following
roundabout course up the various
hills, and carrying much lighter loads
than the same horses could easily
pull on the level.
1t requires thirty minutes to an houF
to make the Climb, the strain on
horses and wear and tear on vehi-
cles and equipment being excessive,
A rolling road was designed by CO...
Isooc D. Smead, OF Cincinnati, to OBJ
viate this. 1t is probably the first OF
its kind in the world, and was built
at a cost, exclusive of preliminary
models and designs, in the neighbor-
hood of 100000.
The rolling road is located on the
shortest and most direct line from the
flats, with rise of 65 feet in 420
feet. 1t consists of an endless belt
and platform made of plankS eight
feet long placed transversely of the
roadway and bound with angle irons.
They are securely fastened together
in trucks of two planks each, adjoin-
ing trucks being connected by heavy
links to form the continuous road
way.
The roadway runs on some four
thousand small wheels in which, to
reduce friction and wear, special
type of Hyatt roller bearing was sue
cessfully introduced. At the upper
end the roadway reYolves around an
immense sheave, the returning belt
running underneath (and wrong side
up on idlers to a similar sheave at
the lower end.
Loaded wagons drive on the road
way at the foot of the hill, the wheels
being securely clamped to prevent
backward sliding After a signal has
been given to the operator in the con
troller house at the top, the road is
started, horses and wagon remaining
stationary on it till the top is reached.
At the summit the roadway again
slows down, and the wagons drive of.
The unconcern with which horses
make the trip is surprising They
are seldom alarmed even for the
first time, and after two or three rides
take it quite as a matter Of course.
The rolling road attains maximum
speed OF three miles per hour, and is
driven by four electric motors placed
at regular intervals along its length,
the belt is endless and can betaoin
operated by a single controller. AS
the belt is endless and can be
at any point land as frequently as
desired) several wagons can be nan
died at once; indeed, it is somewhat
in the nature of a continuous per-
IOrmance, one uflFluS GA dC Cn0 wv
tom at the same time one goes off
at the top, others standing mean
while at various points along the
road. AS many as six wagons have
been on the road at one time, and
single loads weighing $4,000 pounds
(including weight of wagons and
borses) have been handled simultan-
eously with others almost as heavy.
The average time for wagon from
bottom to top, including stops made
for others to get on and aft, is from
three to four minutes.-Scientifc
| American.