Trolleys on the Canal

A SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT AT ROCHESTER.

State Officials Pleased at the Result — Electricity Will Take the Place of Steam and Mules Hereafter.

Rochester, Nov. 25. — Electric propulsion for boats upon the Erie canal has been shown to be practicable. The trolley wires are stretched along nine-tenths of a mile on a portion of the canal with several sharp turns, and this section presents one of the severest tests.

The boat used in the test Saturday was a full sized canal boat called Frank W. Hawley, and is named after the vice president of the Cataract General Electric Company, under whose supervision and direction the first application of electric power on the canal is made. It uses the old style dishpan propeller wheels, which are not nearly as efficient as the present style of screw wheel used on the canal steamers. It is contemplated, if electric power on the canal is adopted, to have but one motor on each boat which will take up a space about four feet square. This will insure quite a saving in space.

The boat is fitted with two motors of the standard street railway company type, each of 25 horse power, with the standard Westinghouse series multiple controller placed in the stern of the boat. The current was brought from the Rochester Street Railway company’s feed wire to the standard street railway trolley and carried to the motors on the boat and back to another overhead trolley, completing the circuit.

The motors are attached directly to the shaft of the propeller with the same gearing that are used on street railroad cars, the shaft being coupled directly as it would be to a street railway axle. This enables the boat to be handled and controlled as to speed and direction similarly to a street car and with perfect satisfaction in its operation when it is necessary to handle the boat radically, such as going through a double lock or passing another boat. The trolleys used to-day were underrunning trolleys, and would not permit the boat to vary from a straight course more than 10 feet, as this kind of trolley will not hold the wire more than that distance. The over-running trolley, which it is proposed to use, will have a flexible wire to allow the boat to swing from one side of the canal to another, and still retain its hold on the feeder wire. This kind of trolley will not be finished until about November 28, and it was thought best to have the experiment Saturday with a trolley similar to that used on a trolley car for fear the canal would be frozen over before the improved canal boat trolley, with an automatic reel, which has been patented by the Westinghouse people, can be obtained.

Supt. Hannan of the state department of public works, State Engineer Schenck and a United Press representative embarked on the boat at 9 o’clock this morning, these officials wishing to witness a practical test before the crowd arrived. Capt. Gibbs had charge of the boat, and E. Cheesbrough, the electrical engineer from the Westinghouse works at Pittsburg, had charge of the application of the power. The boat was gotten under way and a trip was made from one end of the trolley wires to the other and back. Each of the state officials were well satisfied with the results and the boat passed through the canal and lock amid the cheers of the people along the banks who were fast assembling.

Supt. Hannan said: “There is no doubt of the success of the use of electric motor power for boats on the canals. The principal thing which we shall determine to-day is the cost of the use of such power. It would seem that this should be the cheapest power available and of course it will have to be shown that a boat can be operated at a less cost by electricity than by steam.” Engineer Cheesbrough said: “There is no doubt as to the success of our effort.” State Engineer Schenck uttered the same sentiment.

On the first trial Saturday morning but 370 volts was obtainable from the feed wires. Shortly before 11 o’clock Gov. Flower and a large number of prominent Rochester citizens arrived on the scene. By this time several thousand people lined the banks of the section on which the experiments were to be tried and the boat itself was alive with humanity when Mr. Hawley and his party arrived. Many of those on the boat were obliged to go on shore, and the boat was put in readiness for the official test. It was loaded with 175 tons of sand. Shortly after 11 o’clock the official start was made, Gov. Flower turning on the current. The boat went along all right, the only hindrance being the crowd on the vessel, which interfered materially with its successful operation. Cheers from several thousand throats manifested the interest of the spectators as the success of the experiment was observed.

As the boat was passing through a lock Gov. Flower took occasion to address those on either bank. He reviewed the history of the canal and said he thought this as important an era as any in our commercial history, even as much so as the construction of the canal itself. He said: “We now carry about 3,000,000 tons of freight a year. With electric motor power an assured fact, as it now seems it will be, we can carry 12,000,000 tons a year at no increased cost to the state. It will also be a larger route for the products of the west, which will be cheaper and far superior to those of the Mississippi or the Canadian canals. I understand that by the use of electricity the cost of transportation on the canals can be reduced three-quarters. This is what has been figured.”

Among those on board the boat were Anthony A. Brady of Albany; George Westinghouse, Lemuel Bannister and Brayton Ives of the Westinghouse company of Pittsburg; Nikola Tesla, the celebrated electrician; John Bogart, State Engineer-elect Adams, Frank H. Platt, William Morton, Francis Lynde Stetson, W. B. Rankin and Charlton T. Lewis of New York city; Evan Thomas, Alfred Roper and G. W. Balch, of the New York Produce exchange, and a large number of prominent persons from Rochester, Buffalo and other places, as well as several officials of the Niagara Power company, which proposes to supply electricity to the local companies to be formed along the line of the canal. T. C. Platt is a director of the company formed to operate in this vicinity.

After the official test the Governor and the rest of the inspecting party were entertained at a dinner given by F. W. Hawley, vice president of the Cataract General Electric company, at his summer home, Pittsford Farms.

Chapman L. Johnson, the deputy state engineer, said: “The experiments fully prove the feasibility of moving boats on the canal by electric power at an excess of speed over that obtained by any other method. I have not sufficient data in my possession to express an intelligent view as to the economical aspect of the experiment.”

Only an average of 325 volts could be obtained from the feed wire where 550 volts should have been available.