Every-day Science: Volume 7. The Conquest of Time and Space

by Henry Smith Williams; Edward Huntington Williams

At this time there were at least a score of inventors whose work added something of importance to the solution of the problem of electric traction. But without belittling others, it is probably only justice to say that the work of Frank J. Sprague, a one-time lieutenant in the United States Navy, marks the beginning of the modern era of street railways. In 1888, after a period of struggle and a series of disheartening disasters, Mr. Sprague and his associates opened an electric line for the Union Passenger Railway of Richmond, Va., which "forms a landmark in the history of this industrial development." Over a line of road with grades at that time considered impossible, thirty cars were put into use at the same time, the contract for the equipment calling for its completion in ninety days. The success of this enterprise, when on the opening day more electric cars were operated than in all the rest of America together, settled forever the question of the practicality of electric street railways, as well as many of the questions of the practical application of the current, thanks to Sprague's inventive genius.

This road was an overhead trolley-wire system, with an underrunning trolley held in place by the now-familiar trolley pole. The number of difficulties that had to be solved in perfecting this apparently simple piece of apparatus is shown by the statement of Mr. Sprague that "probably not less than fifty modifications of trolley wheels and poles were used before what is known as the 'universal movement' type was adopted."

In this connection the origin of the word "trolley" is interesting. It seems to have been corrupted from the word "troller" by the workmen of a Kansas City car-line. On this line an overhead wire was used, the travelling carriage taking the current from the wire being known as the "troller." The employees of the road, however, shortly corrupted "troller" into "trolley"; and "trolley" it has remained ever since.

As in the case of Van Depoele, whose perfection of the underrunning trolley was contested legally, Sprague's great contribution to electric traction, the suspension of the motor directly upon the axle, had finally to be sustained by the United States courts. Sprague's method was to hang the motor under the car directly upon the axle, by an extension or solid bearing attached directly to the motor. This plan of constructing the motor, together with numerous other improvements, principally in the direction of lightness, simplicity, and adaptability, soon superseded all pre-existing methods of construction. Thus Van Depoele's method of taking the current from the wire, and Sprague's method of utilizing it in the propulsion of the car, must be regarded as epoch-marking steps in the history of electric traction. Sprague's invention demonstrated the validity of his contention, now universally accepted, that motors should be placed under each car instead of being used on locomotives.

STORAGE-BATTERY SYSTEMS

From the earliest attempts at solving the question of electric traction, efforts were made to produce some form of storage battery whereby the cars might be made independent of a distant generating plant. The advantages of a self-contained vehicle are so obvious that it is not surprising to find the inventors persistent in their attempts at producing practical cars of this type. Such battery cars would not require the dangerous, expensive, and cumbrous system of overhead wires, or the more sightly but also more expensive system of conduits. With such a system of cars the elaborate mains and feeders for bringing the current to the track from the power-house, and for effecting the return circuit, could be dispensed with. Moreover, the independent action of such cars over a system where the power is furnished from a single source, where the stoppage of the current stops every car along the line, is inestimable.

Between the years 1880 and 1883 many storage-battery cars were built and put in service both in European and American cities. Probably the most important one of these lines was that which was built by the Belgian, Mr. E. Julien, in New York city, in 1887–8. On the Fourth Avenue road something like a dozen storage-battery cars were put in operation for a considerable time, and later, improved modifications of these cars were operated in Philadelphia under the direction of Mr. Anthony Rackenzaun, of Vienna. But despite the apparent simplicity of the storage-battery idea, innumerable difficulties were perpetually presenting themselves in its practical application. Despite the disheartening results, however, storage-battery cars were not entirely abandoned in practice until 1903, New York city being the last to surrender, as it had been about the last to adopt them.

But in February, 1910, the storage-battery street car again made its appearance on trial in New York—not the old heavy type of unsatisfactory car, but an entirely new and lighter creation of Thomas A. Edison, who had been striving for years to solve the storage-battery problem. This car, which had been tested on the Orange, New Jersey, street-car line on January 20th, 1910, maintained a speed of fifteen miles an hour in actual practice, and ran a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles without re-charging the batteries.

There are some novel features about the car itself, but the all-important one is the peculiar and novel storage battery which it has taken Mr. Edison some nine years to perfect. In an imperfect form this battery was given a trial in 1903, and much was expected of it because it was not only lighter than the usual form of storage battery, but it promised more permanency because an alkali was used in place of an acid as an electrolyte.

In this battery the positive element, which consisted of nickel oxide interspersed with layers of graphite, was packed in perforated nickel tubes. The negative element was iron oxide, with potassium hydrate as the electrolyte. This battery showed no bad effects from over-charging or from being rapidly discharged, but it was found that the graphite soon became oxidized and interfered with the working of the battery. This defect was corrected by substituting chemically pure nickel for the graphite, but another was soon discovered. Under the pressure of the oxide of nickel the square tubes containing the nickel were frequently injured so that the powdered nickel oxide was sifted down on the pure nickel layers and insulated them.