The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1907-02-01

| F1rst Electric Railway OF the World, Bsr-
II. 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 expanding $780,
900 600 in the electrification Of the first
knlrty-fve miles Of it's system, and the
tar horses were long ago relegated to
the boneyard, II not to the sausage
factory"
''They" have done marvellous things
since the increasing knowledge OF
electricity opened up new world Of
achievement, and we have scarcely
lcrossed the threshold. In 1880 the cleo
tric car was dream; in 1890, an ex-
pertinent; in 1900, great and wonder
ful fact which is revolutionizing pas
senger transportation and will enable
human beings to move from place to
place twice as fast as they do at pres
ent.
r. Born in Old Vermont.
When in 1884 Thomas Davenport, Of
Brandon, VT, ran a 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-
leen, Scotland, built an electric loco
motive which actually reached a 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 a locomotive and, driven
by a battery of one hundred Grove
elements, was tried Apri! %, 1851, on
a railroad running from Washington
to Bladensburg. A speed Of nineteen
miles an hour was developed, 50 great
tnat it destroyed the batteries.
Numerous other experiments FOL-
lowed, all commercial failures because
tue motors were crude and the source
Of power a primary battery. The de-
velopment Of the wonderful modern
railroading could become commercial
success. The first great step was in
1850. when an italian named Pacinot-
Il 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 im-
possible. The "reversibility Of func-
hon" had yet to be discovered, invol.
wing 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-
cnanical power.
Like many other important discov-
cries, this is said to have been the re-
suit Of accident A workman coupled
q machine to a live circuit by mis-
take and was greatly astonished to see
It begin to rotate. This reversibility
IT 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.
Inns 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-
y people. It reached 4 speed Of eight
miles % hear.