GISBORNE'S TRAMWAYS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13306, 16 February 1914, Page 3

GISBORNE'S TRAMWAYS.

VISIT OF AN EDISON EXPERT

WHAT HE HAS TO SAY* ABOUT THE SYSTEM. Although, only. & little over a mile m extent the Gisborne tramway service continues to attract the attention of municipal representatives and engineers because of the fact that the local installation constitutes the first Edison storage battery service m operation m Australasia. The most recent visitor to Gisborne m this connection is Mr A. R. Harris, who for several years held the position of assistant chief of the Research Department of thu Edison Storages Battery Co. at Orange, New Jersey. Mr Harris, who is a young man and a New Zealander by birth, is the accredited technical expert oh the Edison storage battery, and as such has recently been placing the merits of the system before several local bodies of the Dominion. Gisborne, he told a Herald representative m the course of a chat to-day, was the first place south of the line to install the storage battery oars. There were, however, several . other local authorities specially interested m the modern method of traction. Palmerston North, for instance, proposes to install the system, and their engineer had reEorted that the installation of the overead system would entail an expenditure of £85,000 as against £47,000 for the Edison cars, while the working cost, according to their engineer's estimates, would ahow a loss of £1400 on the overhead on the first year's working as against a saving of £100 on the battery system. The Wellington City Corporation had also interested itself m the battery proposition and was calling for tenders for two storage battery vehicles' with the idea of developing the field. Referring to the local installation he said the batteries were operating under the most trying conditions, so far as traffic was concerned, as the cars were only being used m the main street with eubsequent short runs, frequent stops and heavy loading. Longer 'runs and less frequent stops, such as would be obtained m a residential service, were always looked for. _his point drew the visitor on to the subject? '"'of tramway extension,, which he strongly {recommended, declaring that he was "** convinced it' would prove a profitable venture, more particularly so as there was SO much material adready available. He understood the Borough Engineer' had recommended a, temporary extension. The matter of extension with temporary railways had never been used m New Zealand, for the simple reason that the cost of the overhead system would make such a scheme prohibitive, but with the battery system such as Gisborne possessed, there was no reason why the rails should not be put down as, recommended until funds were available for a permanent track. As regards the cars themselves, Mr Harris said he found them m good working order, and he declared that the Borough authorities were to be congratulated upon the way they had been put together and equipped, seeing that tney were something quite new. The batteries were m good -working order, and they we're increasing by 2Q per cent, of the capacity, and this increase would continue for some time. The capacity had greatly improved- with use. Ques? tioned as to whether the climatic conditions were favorable for the operation of the batteries, he said the conditions m Gisborne were ideal. In America, on the other hand, the conditions were the severest s possible, as they experienced snow storms at' one season of the year and intense heat m the summer. It will be remembered that when the contract for the supply of the two local cars *-waß entered into, the Borough authorities obtained a guarantee that at the expiry of three years the makers •would be prepared to renew the positive ' plates of the batteries at half the original" cost. Since then, Mr Harris ex-r plained, Mr Edison had increased the guarantee he was issuing to four years, and^ the guarantee was to the effect that if the battery was not then capable of 100 per cent of its original capacity, they would renew the battery free. In the event of Gisborne deciding to go m for additional cars Mr. Harris stated that arrangement* were beingmade by which they would be obtained much more cheaply than the two initial cars now running m Gladstone road. He was making arrangements for the car bodies to be built m this country, thus considerably reducing the freight and Customs charges, whilst the utilisation of native timber would increase the durability of the vehicles. Asked as to what advance tlie battery system had mad© m the tramway world, lie said that' when. 'Mr W. J). "Lysnar visited America ( there was only one car operating, in New York. To-day there are 160 operating m New York city, there* having been a 60 per cent increase m the last six months. Throughout the United States there were now about 300 cars m use, and this despite the fact _that most of the towns were already with tramway services. The Edison, cars had been introduced either through*- the conversion of overhead sys- , terns or by new extensions. Mr Harris said. _. he did not know whether any comparisons had been made ,to show the saving Gisborne had effected by the adoption of the battery cars, but with the excellent electrical installation the town possessed it was quite possible to run another 20 cars at l^st without the necessity for increasi.i-.' the capacity of the power house plant. He .went on to refer to the striking economies the battery system effected as compared to the overhead system, and pointed out that with the latter, an installation on a basis of a full plant was necessary to operate even one or two cars. * ' Many engineers, he went oh to say, had been prejudiced against the battery car system, but this was simply because they did not understand it. He understood that the engineer to the Wanganui Borough had expressed the opinion that the cars .were not suitable for Wanganui on account of the curves and grades, but he could give no reason for such an assertion. If an overhead cstr ran up a 5 per cent grade and consumed 5 per cent more power, a battery car would take no, more. It "had been said that grades would limit the radius of action.

This was so to a certain extent, but m returning down the grade they saved / so much current. So he did not believe it *would affect the radius of action very much. Under normal conditions it wouild not be necessary to increase the Battery capacity of the cars. There was also a most erroneous idea m regard to increased mileage. Critics aveTred that extra batteries and heavy cars would

prohibit their use. This was so m connection with other combinations of storage batteries, but was not so with the Edison battery, since it was possible to increase the mileage capacity by high rate hoosts m the same way as ah engine took up water for its boilers. Mr Harris possesses a fund, of information on the subject, which should be of great value to municipal engineers of the Dominion. He returns south by 'the Takapuna this evening.