Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-17
TO REvOLUT|ONZE
CARRIER SYSTEM
BUFFALO WIZARD INVENTS A
NEW RAILWAY
Transportation of Mails and Packages
May Be Vastly improved If the
Government Adopts Min
iature Cars

If, within two years, you heal
the announcement that you can sen6
express matter from Los Angeles tt
Buffalo in twenty-four hours you need
not rub your eyes and think you've
been dreaming. William c. Carr OF
Buffalo, N. Y. is the wizard who
claims that he has made this possible
and who already has secured franchises
for the operation of his electrical mail
and express carrying line in the east
ern states.
Mr.. Carr and his friends claim that
he has solved the problem of rapid,
safe and economical transportation of
mail and package matter. His models
bear out his statements, and the little
cars, on the tiny elevated railways, do
their work with almost uncanny pre-
ciSion and accuracy.
A double steel track is supported on
a series of Y-shaped metal poles. The
tracks are elevated to a height suffi-
cient to allow the passage of all or
dinary traffic, usually from twelve to
twenty feet. 1t is planned to use the
invention for the rural delivery of
mail. The tracks will radiate from the
central delivery station, returning by
loops at the end of the route.
Would Work Admirably Here
The mail will be distributed before
being sent out, the parcels and letters
for each farmer being placed in sep
arate box. The carriers, driven by
small motors, travel at the rate of
twenty-five miles per hour. AT the
approach to a farm house the carrier
slows down automatically deposits the
mail in a box and locks it. picks up
the mail the farmer has deposited in
the outgoing box, rings the bell in
the farmers house, announcing the
delivery, and then makes quick get
away. One man will be able to operate
all the loops from a station, the cost
of each circuit of twenty-five miles,
per car, being about cents. The mail
carriers nave been carefully tested and
have worked perfectly. They do not
read the postal cards.
The greatest difficulty anticipated in
the operation of the system is the
gathering of ice and snow on the
tracks. This has been met by the
inventor by making the point of con-
tact between the car and the electric
circuit the apex of an inverted V. The
V-shaped groove is protected. The
rails also may be used for telephone
circuits Mr.. Carr says this service
may be supplied to the farmers at a
cost of % cents per month.
Will Also Carry Freight
The building of the double tracks
will make the system available for
many different uses Larger cars than
the mail carriers will be built, de-
signed for the carrying of farm pro-
duce and packages, and a farmer may
telephone 10 the central station at any
time for a special car to send produce
to market,
The invention promises to be even
more valuable for use in large cities.
In the more crowded of the large east
ern cities the problem of the distribu-
tion of package matter and the deliV-
cries from stores has become serious.
Mr.. Carr has planned an underground
tube system. He has worked out new
features of construction by which he
claims to have system vastly SUI
perior to the pneumatic tube arrange
ments Large department stores in
Buffalo are pushing the invention, real
izing its possible usefulness in distrlb-
uting goods to outlying stations. The
Buffalo Sunday News sums up the
claims for the invention;
Revolutionize Mail System
1. 1t should be of incalculable ben
eft TO the rural sections. In benefiting
the rural sections 1t ought to benefit
the government to the ultimate extent
Of millions of dollars for IL is gem
orally conceded that the annual de1cit
in the postoffice department Is due toI
the appropriations for the extension
and maintenance of the rural free de-