AIR-DRIVEN TRAINS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1744, 19 February 1920, Page 3

AIR-DRIVEN TRAINS.

AN ITALIAN INVENTION

GREAT ADVANTAGES CLAIMED

POWER STORED IN TANKS'

A new invention Juts been submitted t 0 the Italian State Railways, which, it proved successful, is bound to revolutionise the whole modern conception ol communications by rail, writes a correspondent from Rome. H is due to the brains of it young; Italian engineer, and 1 believe that official studies and experiments are now (ro]n< r on, though naturally strict secrecy is kept. The inventibn, J understand. has been already patented in Halv and in-many foreign countries. Its secret lies in a new system ot compressing air, by which central tanks 'mav store enormous power to be distributed to ‘duel” stations along the railway lines by strong pipes At those minor tanks (*‘ fuel stations”) locomotives will stop at need to refill their own rolling tanks. Steam is superseded. Goal, waterpower, electricity, are no longer needed. Cleanliness, speed, and economy will add their advantages to that ol the freeing of the Italian railways hum the need for foreign coal.

This new invention comes as an unexpected competitor to the electrical ]lower enterprises, which were thought to be the only substitute to coal and steam. The inventor claims his system to be cheaper, and its adaptability to the railway system quicker. First of all, existing steam locomotives can be used almost without changes, only the coal tender must ho converted into an air tank. Secondly, the electrification of 40(H) miles of railways would require the addition of the third rail all along the lines for the transmission of the current ami tlio reinforcement ol I 011& sections ol toe roads ami the replacement of hundreds of miles of the tracks. I hits the expenditure in the scheme of electrification'now before the Italian Government would hi* about- t2<i().()IH).OOUIn the new scheme the main expenditure is tin* building of the plants for compressing the air and the laying iff pipes—and this is said to he _ vastly cheaper than electrical installation. “The age of the coal Is about to pass.” T was told to-day. “and when the ..British miners tit last resolve to work bal'd and to dig greater quantities of coal out of their mines—they will find that coal in most oi its uses has been replaced!” AVe are not told where the power is (o come from which will he needed for the process of compressing the air. ft is important, any way. to note that thisjiow invention, evbn if successful on land, cannot he applied to the ships, owing to the impossibility ol vessels storing sufficient compressed air.