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Show lss Vfcia jlW! JL A jt IK Busy Inventors Trying to w uce tke i Government to Try Out Crewless Freight Trains Tkat Will Go 200 Miles an Hour, Trains Tkat Run Over Each Other, Trains witk Wings Jflj J' 7r I agjMBffl IP r!ll- f The Double-Decker Train That Runs on Single Rails, Invented by ' Sr P i 1 1 TwlP B j. fllr T'M vl Tsij E Moody Boynton, of West Newbury, Mass. After a Certain Speed is Tp ll , ugWlj Si: ; hiS:;rvgn!i 1 .' irV Attained the Planes Are Manipulated to Lift the Cars Slightly, Thus itWnUlw ' 'iOm I 3aMS9 R MESSPBrft SIL Iu- ifil Taking Much of Their Weight from the Lower Rail and Reducing . lfr-fi 'SSMk'-iSM 'lagfir'Lf jjLtt'l 'g" HS O h CJ Friction to a minimum. At the Same Time an Ingenious Mechanism fla $l00m ' 7 UJlSWlilf ji . U J ft 1 Raises the Upper Rail. Eliminating Any Increase of Friction from it ' II II JMip - We H 7? "Mr)!' jw' Uyi - The Inventor Claims .or His Device Entire Safety in Travel and a r' jlfoj jj i I I Speed Six Times as 3reat as the Fastest Express Train Now Running. ' -k ' of opeueari Itwas shown wings attached -MvJ ' that the stMrt system hd been satisfact" the -ides hff B The contract for the tunnel for the rail- ion that they f VS uc r: to a minimum. At eacn operating station way wag let in lgl4 and work was started could be inclined If 'M L X there will be a large built-in wall-map of just before the war broke out. It is now at any angle to M WwMMm The Double-Decker Train That Runs on Single Rails, Invented by E. Moody Boynton, of West Newbury, Mass. After a Certain Speed Is Attained the Planes Are Manipulated to Lift the Cars Slightly, Thus Taking Much of Their Weight from the Lower Rail and Reducing Friction to a minimum. At the Same Time an Ingenious Mechanism Raises the Upper Rail, Eliminating Any Increase of Friction from it. The Inventor Claims ior His Device Entire Safety in Travel and a Speed Six Times as 3reat as the Fastest Express Train Now Running. of parcel post and all other mail matter heav-ier heav-ier than letters. The House of Commons held inventor is that it would be practicable practic-able to furnish his electric trains with wings attached to the sides of the cars in such fashion fash-ion that they could be inclined at any angle to the horizontal. The wings, he claims, would partly overcome the gravity of the car and to that extent sustain its weight, reducing the pressure and friction on the track. Lessening of friction would augment speed. The Patent Office Of-fice at Washington Washing-ton contains the records of man.y to a minimum. At each operating station there will be a large built-in wall-map of the system, as a whole or in part, with movable mov-able wooden pegs to show the position of each train. If a collision were to occur, nobody no-body would be hurt, because there would -be no one on board. But there will be no collisions, special and effective means being adopted to prevent such accidents. The trains being unmanned, much loss of lives such as now occurs among trainmen, owing, to various mishaps will be avoided. Incidentally, cost of operation opera-tion will be greatly cheapened, inasmuch as there will be no wages to be paid to firemen, brakemen and engineers. Mr. Stuart's railroad is operated like the British system already described-through described-through the medium of a third rail that runs the entire length of the trackway. A traiu is set at the starting-point for .any route it is desired to take, and in this respect requires re-quires no further control. If "routed" for a place that is on a branch line, it turns off of its own accord when it reaches the branch. By an arrangement of electric contacts the movement of the train is so controlled from the operating station that it will stop wherever desired. At each town or hamlet an indicator shows whether an approaching train will stop there or pass by. Trains are started, accelerated, slowed down, or backed at the will of the operator, who may be 100 or 200 miles away. Means are provided for preventing collisions at junction-points, and for automatically restarting any train held up at a junction to allow another to pass. In March of 1912 the line was inspected by Herbert Samuels, then Postmaster-General of England. As a result of the showing made in the operation of trains he intro-. intro-. duced a bill in the British Parliament in 1913 calling for an appropriation of one million, mil-lion, one hundred thousand pounds for the construction of a line in London six and a quarter miles long, from Paddington to Whitechapel. This line was to be used for the transport a series of open hearings. It was shown that the Stuart system had been satisfactorily satisfact-orily demonstrated; The contract for the tunnel for the railway rail-way was let in 1914, and work was started just before the war broke out. It is now about'finished, but owing to the war no contract con-tract has been made for equipment, which involves electrical work that would trespass on war industry. "The system," says Mr. Stuart, "was designed de-signed primarily for post office work, but it has a wide field of usefulness in handling of freight in cities and also for the transport of coal and ores from the working face to breakers or tipples. Millions of tons of coal and other ores located in rough mountain country have never been worked because of the difficulty of transporting from the working work-ing surfaces to the tipples. It has been impossible im-possible or too expensive to build standard gauge roads, and in some sections even narrow nar-row gauge has been prohibitive owing to the grades and the cost or impossibility of operating oper-ating on them. But with the automatic control con-trol system grades are only a matter of power, and the system can be built to any gauge. It can be laid out in the sharpest kinds of curves without the slightest danger of accident." The Bureau of Commercial Economics of Washington is showing a moving picture film of the demonstration line in operation for educational purposes. Another suggestion for an automatic railroad rail-road comes from E. Moody Boynton. of West1. Newbury, Mass. The Boynton cars travel on one rail, but are held erect by engaging another rail overhead. Electricity furnishes the motive power and the control, the railway being automatic in its operation. The inventor claims that it would furnish transportation from New York to Denver in twenty hours. For passengers he suggests sug-gests double-deck cars built in two stories, that is to say, with seats or berth seats on both floors, or with a. smoking room up aloft. Lest this idea be deemed absurd, attention at-tention may be called to the fact that electric elec-tric street railroads in some of our cities are even now experimenting with two-story cars, which can carry twice the ordinary number of people the second floor being reached by a stair at the back. ZS A supplementary idea Iffw Dffered h thia By Rene Bache. WHEN the United States Government took over the railroads it was to be expected that many inventors, feeling a more or less proprietary interest in the lines, should hasten to bring their plans for improvement before Washington. No one will deny that the railroads present pre-sent many problems. There is the problem of bringing coal quickly, cheaply and expeditiously expe-ditiously from the mines to the consumer. We all had a taste last Winter of what failure fail-ure in this means. There is the problem of bringing food, and especially perishable food, into' the great cities. These two offer the greatest problems, because in them lie the factors of time and of adjustment of cars and miles of roads to food and fuel demands. There are, as always, the problems of bow to avert wrecks, collisions, head-on and rear, the increasing cost of operation through both increased wages and high prices of material. Altogether, our railroad problems prob-lems are serious, indeed. Here are some of the aforesaid inventors' plans to meet them: Entirely practical, and, indeed, now in limited-use in England, is the scheme of Kenneth E. Stuart, of Philadelphia, to run crewless trains for rapid distribution of freight food, fuel and other commodities. The cars are about eight feet long three ""feet high and three feet wide. They are driven and controlled by electricity and are capable of a speed of 200 miles an hour. One of these trains could make the trip between be-tween Chicago and New York in six hours. The distance from New Orleans to New York could be covered in less than twelve. Think of the advantage gained where perishable per-ishable food products are concerned. All the trains on Such a system of lines being practicallv under one control, confusion con-fusion will be avoided and delays, reduced thousands of unutilized un-utilized railway inventions, some of which are undoubtedly un-doubtedly of real value. Take for example exam-ple the invention of H. L. Simmons, of Wickes, Mont., wbieh offers a method by which two trains going in opposite direc-ti direc-ti o n s can pass each other on the same track. A Photograph of One of the Stuart Crewless Cars Now in Actual Operation Op-eration in England. The Government Has Appropriated Ap-propriated More than $5,Soo,ooo for an Extension Exten-sion of This System. Below Be-low Is Shown a Photograph Photo-graph of a car passing Through One of the Tunnels Tun-nels Through Which the Cars Make Their Way Under Street Crossings and, When Necessary, Through Cities. Let the two bo called "A" and "B." Train A carried on its locomotive an inclined plain running downward and forward from the smokestack to the track in front. On this inclined plane rails are laid, and these rails are continued along a platform that runs over the top of the engine and the entire length of the train, descending by another inclined plane to the track at the rear. Now, suppose that train A is going at a speed of fifty miles an hour perhaps rounding round-ing a curve and along comes train B on the same track in the opposite direction. A collision might seem inevitable. But. astonishing as-tonishing to observe, the locomotives come together, and train B glides up the inclined plane in front of train A, runs over the top of the latter, and r-" down tka in- The Very Curious Device Patented by H. L. Simmons to Enable One Train to Pass Over Another. By This Method an Express Could Travel on the Same Tracks as a Local and Simply, the Inventor Th.nks Run Up Upon the Tracks Carried in the Local's Top and Down m Front of It. -PT By the Same Device Trains Could Rur. Different Ways on One Track Without Danger of Head-On nT V?A "HJsS Collision and Subsequent Heavy Dam- gW' clime plane at the rear end, resuming the track again. "Toot, toot!" The incident is over in a moment, and both trains proceed on their way unharmed. One of our most famous American painters, paint-ers, Albert, Bierstadt, is credited with the invention in-vention of a traveling church. On the road it looks like an ordinary Pullman car, but, arrived at a stopping place, it expands into a church, furnishing shelter and seats for a congregation. It is even provided with a collapsible steeple, to be put on top a mat-. ' ter of some importance, inasmuch as to many people a church with- ov,t a steeple is no 'I' " church at all. - UlUUUCi UJ fjcupic liic U.UUJ UCUlg v,7cvx ui mm.., an iiuiii p-llial IUIJIJU- I I Myelin. iUUl, LUUll 1 lit' IJJCUieill. Iti The Very Curious Device Patented by H. L. Simmons, to pnable One Tram t0 ' mi reached bv a stair at the back. ing a curve and along comes train B on over in a moment, and both trains proceed Pass Over Another By This Method an Ex"" Co ,rav,j' on Mme iJLill lfe A supplementary idea the same track in the opposite direction. A on their way unharmed. Tracks as a Local and Simply, plrownn in pront ofp It p --(S3Pm M P8. !?w offered by this collision might seem inevitable. But. as- One of our most famous American paints Bythc'sanic'nevioe Trains Could Rur Different Ways ggtf'Q I j jS ii tonishing to observe, the loc m rome "fs. Alberl Bierstadt, is credited with tin- in- 01; One Track Without Dangei f Head-On -i5jpff;Y - 'wJZjrvi. 1 i LJljH! together, and train B glides up the inclined vention of a traveling church. On the road Collision and Subsequent Heavy Dam- Sglpif, Nj : : I "r plane in front of train A, runs over it looks like an ordinary Pullman car, but, age Claims. 0txT VKl ykJz00 fLJ- I I the top of the latter, and arrived at a stopping place, il c;pnri(ls into r-a :SV-ijnN' r Z5 X L 1 I ' i, down tfea in- a church, furnishing shelter anl seals for Copyright. 191S. by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights Reserved. |