Amador ledger., 1907-02-22

First Electric RsiIway OF the World, Bsr-
lin Exposition, 1879.
natural, over an invention which
threatens to relegate them to sausage
factory"
That was less than twenty years
ago. Today the New York Central
Railroad Company is expending $780,
100000 in the electrification Of the first
thirty five miles of its system, and the
car horses were long ago relegated to
the boneyard, If not to the sausage
factory"
"They" have done marvellous things
since the increasing knowledge Of
electricity open I'd up new world Of
achievement, ara we have scarcely
crossed the threshold. In 1880 the elec-
trio car was a dream; in 1890, an ex-
pertinent: In 1900, a great and wonder
ful fact which Is revoiutionizing pas
senger transportation and will enable
human beings to move from place to
place twice as fast as they do at pres
ent
Born I'm Old Vermont.
When in 1894 Thomas Davenport, Of
Brandon, VT, ran toy motor mounted
on wheels on a small circular railway,
the modern electric railroad with its
possible speed Of over one hundred
miles an hour was born.
In 1888 Robert Davidson, of Aber-
deem. Scotland, built an electric loco
motive which actually reached speed
of four miles an hour on the Edin-
burgh- Glasgow railway. Nine years
later Professor Moses G. Farmer op-
Grated an experimental car which car
ried two passengers at Dover, New
Hampshire.
Then the United States congress be-
came interested. By special grants
Professor Page Of Smithsonian insti-
tute was aided In the construction Of
several forms Of motors. One of them
was used as locomotive and, driven
by battery of one hundred Grove
elements, was tried April 20, 1851, on
railroad running from Washington
to Bladensburg. A speed of nineteen
miles ali hour was developed, SO great
that it destroyed the batteries.
Numerous other experiments fol-
lowed, all commercial failures because
the motors were crude and the source
of power q primary battery The de-
velopment OF the wonderful modern
dynamo was necessary before electric
railroading could become q commercial
success. The first great step was In
1850, when an Italian named Pacinot-
II invented a continuous current dy-
namo. Three years later the first
practical commercial machine for con-
tinuous current operation was made
by Gramme.
Still the modern electric car was i'm
possible. The ''reyersibility of func-
lion" had yet to be discovered, inyolv-
ing electrical transmission of energy
through two machines, one driven by
power and generating electricity; the
other reversing the operation, receiv-
ing electricity and developing me-
chanical power.
Like many other important discov-
cries, this Is said to have been the re.
suit of accident. A workman coupled
machine to live circuit by mis-
take and was greNtly astonished to see
1t begin to rotate. This reversibility
Of function was publicly demonstrated
for the first time at the Vienna expo
sition in 1873.
Not until 1879 was the first electric
railway put In operation, taking the
current from dynamo. using a mod
ern motor and carrying passengers.
This novelty was in operation at the
Berlin exposition and was a mile and
two-thirds, in length. The train con-
sisted of a small locomotive and three
small cars, capable Of carrying twen-
ty people. 1t reached a speed OF eight
miles an hour.