On a recent holiday, April 30 last, 835,720
passengers were carried upon the entire system without
noticeable detention or accident. The rapidly increasing traffic
makes the demand for better facilities a pressing one, and as
the average half million now carried daily will soon become a
million, it appears doubtful if any method can be devised of
providing for the growth by the use of steam motors on the
present structures, which are now taxed to their utmost. To the
mind of the mechanical engineer, having in view the ordinary
coefficients of tractive ability, there is no remedy for this.
The speaker stated that these coefficients were not entirely
trustworthy. He reiterated his previously expressed opinion,
based on frequent experiments, that there is a decided increase
in traction gained by the passage of the electric current from
the wheels to the rails, giving the details of one test where a
motor with a load making a total of 600 lb. climbed a gradient
of 2,900 ft. per mile, starting from a state of rest. He stated
that some of those people who had ridiculed his statements had
finally admitted that they were true.
The motor Ben Franklin, which had been used in making these
tests on the elevated roads, weighed 10 tons, and performed
service nearly equal to the steam motors weighing 18 tons.
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