The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-08-13
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1921.
VERMONT INVENTORS.

Some weeks ago the Banner com
mented on the fact that the electric
motor and electric car were invented
by a Vermonter, Thomas Davenport
of Brandon. 1t has now TRANSFERRED that
the first electric locomotive. was also
invented by native of this state
Tho house organ Of the General cleo
trio company at Schenectady tells its
following interesting story.
Contrary 10 opinion that has pre-
vailed for many years, the first elec
trio locomotive was not built in Ger /
many but in America. manufactur
Ing concern in Berlin has long laid !
claim to this honor claiming to have
perfected the first engine OF this type
in 1879 but on investigation ii was
found that in tS47.. Prof Moses G
Farmer, Vermont, built and operated
an electric locomotive. This origin
al engine Is now in possession of the
| Smithsonian Institute at Washington,
| D. {. aNQ sGr
II IL an odd looking continuance
about three by i've by ten feet dri,
Won by a motor built crudely on the
| principal Of the motor of today. A
wheel to which magnets were attached
was mounted on frame above the
floor OF the locomotive aud these mag
| nets were attracted on their downward
course by a threecoil field fixed on the
| floor of the machine directly in the
course Of the wheel As each magnet
: on the wheel passed the ends Of the
J.. coils It was repealed upward on the
= next quarter of its revolution and so
on. the shaft OF this wheel was gear.
ed to the wheels of the locomotive
I thus the magnet wheel correspondent
S to the amature Of The modern MOTOR
!, and the fixed coils ON the floor formed
, the field
, Electric current was supplied by
Batteries which were FIRST carried in
a box on the locomotive Later, these
primary cells We're grouped in a pow
n er plant beside the track so that
g. current was transmll,sd to the loco
I, motive sthi'Ougn tde rails of transmit
Q ing eiettric power from a central
source TO a travelling apparatus which
is now one OF the fundamental prin
/. ciples of electric railway operation.
The locomotive developed enough
4 power to move itself. with four
passenger car attached and actually
!. carried passengers The inventor took
II TO Dover, New Hampshire. and exhi.
Y hited II there and so al Springfield.
Mass. Three years later, in a more
developed state. it attracted much in
q terest in Boston.
Twelve years before Prof Farmer
" doyi ed this machine Thomas Dayen-
port, blacksmith OF Brandon, Yer
mont, had installed an q ectric battery
v on tiny car and ran this ear about
a small circular track in his home.
&c But this was as far as he went.
y Prof Farmers first use OF his cleo.
~ trio locomotive was - run il around
N the edge of a lecture, To Illustrate a
rs talk which hc gave. a larger model
L. was operated out of doors but it was
years before c ectric traction became
O. commercially successful. The battery
III OF that day was to expensive and toe
ar fragile to be used to any great extent
ld Tho ectric generator did not come
n unit years later and with it was the
~ first decisive step toward the achieve
meuts electric traction has now made
~ Thomas A. Edison built Il small
81 road near his laboratory at Menlo parl
AZ in 1879, on Which orule electric cal
IN was operated Four years later he ant
stephen ID Field devised an electri,
locomotive which ran ON n circular
track as the Chicago and Louisyill,
Exposition Frank j Sprague becam,
interested and in 1855 succeeded il
~ operating a short line at Richmond Va
90 From that time on some of the coun
- ltrys foremost engineers and scien
", lists, many OF whom are G.E men
:. have been laborinS iong and patiently
' to lay the foundations for the plac,
which modern electric traction occu
= pies in tho life of the nation today.
According to figures complied by
the American Railway Association
there are approximately 10000 elec
trcally propel ed passenger cars il
the United States and they carry IA,
u0n 0On,0O0 passengers, About $4,000.
100000 is invested in these lines
:, which have a trackage OF $4,000 mile.
;. and approximately 500 200 person.