Year: 1870

Ever. since street railroads have fought


their way against popular prejudice into
| favor, it has been felt that the enormous ex-


pense incidental to running them should be


so reduced as to render the price of travel


through OUT streets as low as possible The


ears were intended for the people, and not


for those only of the wealthy class. The


New Orleans propretors of car lines at


tempted to reduce their expenses in order
to run their cars at a rate to permit low
| fares by discharging conductors and adopt
| ing the box system, with the driver only in
| charge. Every encouragement has, in the
past, been given by the companies
| to inventors who had any plan to offer by
| which the enormous expense of employing


animal power could be dispensed with.
Steam was out Of the question, and 10 man,
however popular he might be- could have
| safely recommended its use in our crowded
| streets. Under the encouragement Of our
| railroad companies. number of inventors
offered their plans and had them tested.
Ingenuity and skill were evidently ap-
parent in every rev plan; but after all the


capitalists held back and declined to invest


III the Pneumonia, the Ammonia and the
Pelican There seemed to be a doubt as to


their final success. not particularly because


their trial trips might have in some particu-


lars failed, but because it seemed probable
that the expense attending their adoption


might be equal to the expense attending
the employment Of the mule power.


A new and remarkably simple means Of
propelling cars has, however, only lately
been brought to their notice Mr.. Solomon


Jones, gentleman Of q mechanical turn of


mind, who has heretofore distin glished


himself by the invention of the most intri-


cate and remarkable descriptions of ma


cimery, had, in his experiments, his atten-


ti0p called to the wonderful power pos


sessed by India rubber when contracting


after having been stretched. He used it in


in number of instances where the wear


and tear would have destroyed metal, and


was led to believe that in every instance it


was far superior to metal in wearing quail


ties, and tha. it further possessed motive


power in itself. He used it as motive


power in several ingenious mechanical con


trivances, and found his most sanguine


hopes realized. His attention was then


called to applying this motive power to


street cars. He started with the idea that
there were two requirements to be looked


after-tirst, economy in cost, and then econ


omy of space: second, simplicity-a ma


chine not requiring an expert but capable


of being handled by the ordinary indi-


vidual.


After a long series of experiments, lie


discovered that the Para rubber was capa-


bic of stretching ten feet for every one of
it's ordinary length, and that the retractile


power was enormous. He made a system


OF turnings, windings and twists of this


rubber power Which would enable him to


place it under any ear without altering its
present build, and which would give him
power capable of propelling that car
through the streets at rate always at the
command of the man in charge and capa-
BILE Of lasting the wear and tear of constant
service for years.


His machinery was very simple, the rub
Der was wound upon drum, and the drum
once let loose the car commenced to move
at a speed more than could be desired were
it not that it is under perfect command
from simple system Of cogs working under |
the leverage power in the hands of the con-
ductor. His model was sent to Washington |
to the Patent Office, and although it was
not all he could wish, as he was compelled |
to use common gas pipe rubber in place of
the prepared material he proposes to use,
it passed the rigid scrutiny of that office. |
famous for the care and strictness of its ex- |
amlnatiOnS. and patent was issIed to him. |
in connection with Mr.. Bernard Terfoth, |
one of our well-knOwn mechanics, for this |
new invention. For street ears two bands !
of the rubber, two and a-half inches in
diameter and fifty-six feet in length each, |
will be used. Each piece will be attached |
to a separate drum, and as the stretch of |
the rubber will be ten feet for one, five hun |
dred and sixty feet will be run off the drum |
before it becomes necessary to use its tel- |
low-drum. In running off this five hundred |
and twenty feet, a distance of IA, Us feet, |
over two miles, will be traversed by the |
cars; the other drum is then called into
requisition, and while it is propelling the
car the exhausted drum is wound up by the
same leverage which the conductor uses to
stop and control the car; the only trouble
the conductor has is to throw the lever off |
the drum in motion, q simple operation,
which can be reversed in a minute if it |
becomes necessary to stop the cars The |
present cost of running n street railroad car
is over three thousand dollars year, inde-
pendent of the five mules required for it,
whose value must be between six and |
eight or nine hundred dollars. With the
new arrangement, the cars are put in run
ming order with the rubber motive power at
an expense Of about $3.50 car, and have,
while running only the $50 month to pay
the driver or conductor, whatever he may
be called. The rubber will certainly last as
long as the car will run, and the machinery
it moves is not calculated to wear out fast,
as there can be very little friction on cog
wheels The heavy wear and tear must ne
cessarily, as at present be upon the journals
Of the aXles. The fact that the rubber will
last is amply illustrated by the wonderful
enduring powers of the present rubber
springs used for cars. The cars may wear
out. but the rubber springs are taken out of
the old ones and put into the new.


This invention is not by any means in
tended to be confined to the propulsion OF
street cars; it is intended to be adapted to
now monopolized by steam. 1t
can be made useful in the household or the
factory to run sewing machines and our cit
liens will soon have an opportunity of see
ing it tested working fans in one of our
churches Its remarkable cheapness and
the economy with which it can be used.
make it all the more desirable.


The Mobile city railroad companies are
nrenarinp to accommodate their cars tO the |