AN IMPROVED CABLE TRAMWAY SYSTEM.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3585, 27 March 1886, Page 4

AN IMPROVED CABLE TRAMWAY SYSTEM.

♦ (From the JVeio York Mechanical News.) The mishap which enmo very near being a fatal disaster, on the Brooklyn-bridge cable road recently, arising from tho imperfect action of tho grip, h»s called attention to the general subject of cable roads, and the necessity of correcting some defects m the system, if it is to come into uso as widely as hns been hoped. A cable road on which no grip is used is now m operation m Binghamton, m this state, and its working is said to be highly successful. Its inventor is Captain C. B. Fairchild, who has led to an investigation of tho subject by the frequent accounts of destructive wear and tear of tho grip on the Chicago and San Francisco cubic roads The line m operation m Binghamton, as described by tho Republican of that city, is over three-quarters of a mile m length, up a grade averaging, 7ft. to the 100 ft., and m places 1 Oft. The road is continuous, a loop track 120ffc. m diameter being constructed at each terminus, making over 6,000 ft. or one and one-eighth miles of track, and the round trip is made m seven minutes with no trouble or danger, and without jerk or jar m starting or stopping. The new features of the system are that it dispenses with "grips" altogether. Two cables are used, one driven m the ordinary manner by a stationary engine. The other, a small cable resting upon the first, and travelling with it over the same pulleys, is made to complete its endless circuit free from connexion with the prime motor or engine. It is, however, made to move m unison with the main cable, and to receive a positive motion therefrom by passing round the same horizontal pulleys at the ends of tho road, and also by being led at suitable intervals betwee the sides of vertical conical rollers arranged m pairs. This secondary cable is led continuously over a loose drum or pulloy fixed under the car. When this drum on the car is left free to rotate, the cable will run freely over it and tho car will remain stationary. If, however, the pulley or drum be retarded m its revolution by a brake so that it may no longer turn, the car will be earned forward with the cable. To stop the car the brake is Hf ted. There is said to bo no jar or unpleasant motion m Btarting or stopping the car, and any number of cars can be run on the same line wholly independent of each other. There is no switching at the ends of the road, as the track is laid m a circle, and the cars can make the curve and continue on the return trip without stopping. The engine can be placed at any point of the line, or more than one may be used, as tho car passes tho engine without stopping or slacking. In fact, the car can mako tho entire circuit of tho road without a breakman. The slack of the secondary cable is taken up and its tension adjusted by means of tension rollers under the car. The Bystem will require only a shallow sub-way below the surface of tho track, as the secondary cable — the small one that imparts the motion to the car— comes up through the slot as the car passes and drops back below the surface. With this system the cars can be run on single or double track, and can make the curves and switches as readily as a horse car. The foregoing description of the advantages claimed for this system of cable railway construction is given by the Binghamton paper above referred to, which adds that the invention of Captain Fairchild is patented both m Now York and abroad, and that it has already attracted the attention of railway superintendents, especially m the Western States. A method of building such roads, which will afford the requisite facility and economy, and at tho same time be practically securo from accident, i 3 something for which an evident demand exists. This demand does not appear to be fully met by any system now m actual use, and the public will highly appreciate the service rendored it by the successful inventor, whoever he may bo, by whom the mechanical difficulties of tho case a*o tairly conquered.