TRAMWAY PROPOSALS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 97, 6 April 1911, Page 3

TRAMWAY PROPOSALS.

EDISON STORAGE BATTERY CAR.

In view of the tramway proposals now under consideration at Napier I and Hastings, the following com- | munication sent to Wanganui j Borough Council by Mr. K. H. f Brach, manager of the Federal ! Storage Battery Car Company. > New York, on rhe Edison Storage | Battery Car is <>♦’ local interest, j ■Mr. Beach says:— “In the first; | place, our cars con.-unie only about; ' one-third as much current per mile i j as is consumed by trolley cars of' ; the same seating capacity, and in j the second place what is known in I electric car practice the peak j load’ is entirely eliminated with 1 the battery ears, and it is there-* fore possible to operate the<e ears' with a power plant not more than! half the capacity required for trol- j ley ears. In other words, the

power-house or generating equipment. in trolley practice, must have a capacity available at all times to supply the maximum amount of current required to move and do frequently move during the

morning and evening ‘rush hours,’ all of the cars of the entire svstem

at one and the same time, although it occasionally occurs during the day when traffic is light that the ‘load’ on the power-house is very

much less than the maximum 'capacity available, and it always occurs ■ at night, when the cars are run' into the barns that the entire power | plant is idle, and earning nothing! towards the interest on capital inj vester. The ratio of power consumed to capacity of the power plant, is called the ‘power-house factor.’ | Considering the loss of current in * transmission over the overhead I trolley lines and that the maximum

capacity of the power plant, in a trolley system, is required only a small portion of the time, the I power house factor’ of tramway I systems in this country is never better than 50 per cent., and in most cases much less. By ordinary careful management it is possible to obtain a “power-house factor’ of at least 90 per cent., and as high as 9S per cent, in battery chr practice, simply because it is possible to so arrange the car schedules and operate the system that one or more Cais are always at the power plant under charge, thus keeping the

| power-house or power equipment j engaged constantly in the function for which it was intended. I This battery contains no acid ! whatever. The electrolyte consists of a 21 per eent. solution of pure j water and caustic potash, and the ; slight “gassing’ that occurs contains : only a n oxygen-hydrogen gas. and is positively not injurious to contiguous materials nor perceptible to the human senses, as is th,. case with all other batteries. The plates of the Edison Battery will not buckle. The lead plates of all other batteries buckle at the slightest! provocation, and the thereafter use-! less- The Edison Battery is XI tamed in a nickled steel case, the i joints of which are elect rieallv welded : other batteries are con-'

tamed in rubber or glass ja rs . Other piovoeation, and are thereafter useless because of ‘buckling of plates.’ due to over-charge, overload, short circuit, etc., which may occur in regular service at any moment, or wear out in regular service within one to six months. The Edison Battery is guaranteed to last six I y ears vvith no important deprecia-! tion in capacity, and the only part thereof that can possibly wear out! in a very long usage being the posi- [ tive plate, the battery is sold under agreement to renew the posi-' tiv.e. plates at any time for half the original battery cost, and then guarantee the entire battery for an additional three years. The guarantee as to the life of the battery is given solely to introduce this, a new apparatus, into general usage, and is not intended nor does it cover the full battery life.’’