The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-19
How The Electric
 Railway Was Made

There were many pioneers in elec-
 trlc railroading. As far back as 1884 Thomas Davenport, the Vermont blacksmith, demonstrated that it was
 quite possible to propel a vehicle by eiectr1c power. but that was long be-
 lore the electric generator has been perIected, and, of course, Davenport
 nao to obtain his current from bat
 terles and they were far too small | TOT railway work. Davidson, in Scot
 land; Professor Farmer at Dover: | Professor Page of the Smithsonian
 Institute; Hall of Boston-aH experi-
 mented with electrically propelled toy | cars up to the year 1860. but they were merely demonstrating a fact
 ana had little, if anything, to do with
 the later development of the electric
 railway as we know it to-day.
 These pioneers were far ahead of | generator and the first electric rail way in the world to receive it's en- ergy from generator, instead of rom chemical batteries, was install ca by Siemens at the Berlin exposi- ton in the year 1879.
 From this date the progress of the l art was continuous and effective, the work of Edison and Field following close on that of Siemens. In 1880 Edison built and operated an electric tOSoIliollNe at M0nlO Park, tnlS be- Ing the first practical development of electric traction in this country. The first application of the electric rail-
 way to public service was made by S1emens at Lichterfeld, in Germany,
 In 1881, and during the two years
 ment seems to have been mainly in Europe, Siemens installing a road at Portrshu, Ireland, which was opened ins1883.
 The work which led more especial " to the commercial development of
 the electric railway in this country
 began in 1883. An electric locomo- tive was built by Field and Hickey
 meyer and exhibited at the Chicago
 Railway Exposition. It was during
 this year that Van Depoele began his
 experiments with an electric car in
 Chicago. During the same year
 Wraft, who will ever hold a promin-
 ent place, sharing honors with Van Depoele, operated at Saratoga an electric locomotive hauling a passen- ger car.
 Tn 1884 the Sprague Electric Rail- way & Motor Company was organ ized by MT. Sprague. Bently and Knight appeared during this year and
 contributed to the development by operating in public service at Cleve- land, Ohio, an electric car taking en- ergy from electrical conductors in an underground conduit This was the first demonstration of the conduit system as afterward installed in New
 York city and Washington, D. c.
 In 1885 Daft built an e,ectric To- comotive for the Ninth Avenue line of the Manhattan Elevated, which in ap- pearance and arrangement was not unlike the electric locomotive as built | to-day. He also installed in Balti- more a surface road using an electric | locomotive with a third rail as the | principal conductor, but with an over | head conductor and undermining | contact at road crossings, a com bina- l ton of electrical conductors to meet | special conditions, which has been in l use since that time.
 During the same year Van Depoele | equipped an electric railway at Toron- to, the first road in Canada, which, as it had an overhead trolley wire | throughout it's length with an under | running contact at the end of a trof- ley pole, was the forerunner of our modern trolley. Henry, in Kansas | City, and Short in Denver, also be- ments about this time Il
 Sprague, whose name has been prominently associated with electric railway development, built his first car equipment in 1885. His motor was really the prototype of the mod ern single reduction railway motor. It was supported ar one end by bear ings on the car axle and at the other | end was f1exibly attached to the car truck This method of supporting the motor, commonly known as nose suspension, is now in almost univer- sal use. A demonstration of the equipment was given sby Sprague at the Durant Sugar Refinery, Brooklyn and a more important public demon stration on the Thirty-fourth Street branch of the Manhattan Elevated early in 1886.
 In 1887 Sprague secured the con tract for the electrical equipment of the Union Passenger Railway, Rich mond, Va, and the road was opened for traffic in 1888. The large num- Der of equipments and the severity of the service conditions made the fulfillment of this contract the most notable achievement in the develop ment of electric trolley lines up to that time; indeed, 1t was the first effective demonstration of the trolley M system as as practical commercial en- terprise.
 Considerable progress was made by others during 1888. Bentley and Knight equipped the Observatory Hill line in Allegheny, Pa, and the Thom- Company, which had ab- sorbed the Van Depoele interests, made its first demOpstration at Re- were Beach, Mass.
 Eickemeyer put into operation at Long Island City electric cars driven by a combina tion of side rods and gearing Steinmetz was associated with Eickemeyer during his later de- veIopment of the side-rod drive with out gears.
 Shortly after this the Bentley Knight interests ewer absorbed by the Houston Company. In 1890 thei Sprague Electric Railway & Mo- tor Company was absorbed by the Ed ision General Electric Company.
 Limitations imposed by the charac- teristics of the early promoters had led to a genral use of double-reduc ton gearing which was recognized to be a disadvantage on account of both its inefficiency and the noise. In 1890 Parshall, then with the Went strom Company, designed a motor which by reason of its more powerful and slower sped armature made the use of the single reduction gearing practicable. Following this, in 1891 III of the manufacturing companies building double reduc- ion motors, and brought out mo- tors with. single gear reduction, which has been the standard type gearing since that date.
 The series parallel controller, which, effected a material reduction in the energy required by the car, and also he enclosed frame railway motor, an in the mechanical de- sign of motors, were developed by the Thomson Houston Company in 1892. 1t was during this year that the rhomson-H Houston Company and the Edison General Electric Company