The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1912-03-15


strings from the ceiling. not by electric
magnetic repulsion) was a car shaped
like a cigar. with both ends pointed and
the bottom fat This is the style Of the
car which will be used on the levitated
transportation road II it ever gets going.
On one Of the railroad models was an
aluminium skeleton car. 1t weighed
eighteen pounds and by turning on a
switch the car was raised about half an
inch from the grooved rails upon which
1t had rested. There were no wheels to
the car but there were brushes connected
by springs with the body of1the car. AZ
explained by Mr.. Bachelet the brushes
did not carry electricity. but ran in the
groove OF the rails and kept the car on
the track There was practically no
friction. he said. At intervals along the
model road were electro magnets. Each
coil carried enough power to raise ten
pounds, and there were eight coils in a
section. Over the track was solenoid.
turned the power into the solenoid which
sucked the car to its mouth and then shot
it through. The propulsion for his levi
tated transportation road will come from
a series Of solenoids. Mr.. Bachelet said.
and he can get as much or as little power
out of them as he pleases. Certainly the
model was shot along the road or reversed,
and apparently Mr.. Bacheet had it under
good control. He also used forty pound
steel model. and his seemed to be as we'll
trained as the alu minum model
The basic principle Of Mr.. Bach elet 8
discovery" explained Assistant Pun
phrey. lis the adaptation Of propulsion. :"
how valuable the invention would he for
commercial purposes. Both Mr.. Bache-
let and his assistant said that the COM
mercial side had not received serious
consideration as yet. There was no telling
how much it would cost to build the road
There were nolfigl.res obtainable as to how
much power would be needed for freight
train or an ordinary baggage car. The
present idea is that the levitated trans
portation road will be very fine for carry
ing mail and express packages over long
distances at great speed. Three hundred
miles an hour would he easy. Mr.. Bachelet
said. and maybe thousand could be at
tanned. There is no telling. take it from
the inventor. No provision has been
made for an engineer or motor1nan. who
ever the guiding genius may he. Perhaps
a propeller may he stuck az the end of the
car. After some nRurlng by william
Wheeler. superintendent of the West
chester Railroad, who was present. il was
estimated that it would cost 1880 an hour
to keep 1000 ton car in the air under the
Bacheiet system.
Gravity is overcome and there is no
friction except that of the atmosphere, "
Inventor Bachelet SAYS.
Patents have been applied for for the
levitated road, as well as for the synchro-
nizing interrupter. Mr.. Bachelat thinks
that the levitated system could be- adopted
for landing and starting platform for
aeroplanes. especially on warships. Also
he thinks the levitated road would he Il
grand way of carrying explosives on
warships. No danger OF conclssion. he
says.
Mr.. Bachelet was born in France and
has been in this country for twenty -eight
years. Twenty years ago. he says, he
was the boss electrician of the city of
Tacoma. and for eighteen years he has
been working on the invention which he
displayed yesterday.