234 ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. [Dec. II, 



be as practicable as a cable railroad. A suspended geared rail or 

 sprocket chain, so suspended as to resist a longitudinal strain, and 

 insulated so as to convey an electric current, with a trolley wheel 

 geared so as to mesh into the trolley rail, would move a boat just as 

 a street car is moved on the trolley system. Other practicable 

 methods under this head have already been the subject of study and 

 experiment. It is no less practicable to move the boats by means of 

 submerged cables like the Belgian system which have already been 

 operated on the Erie canal, or by submerged tracks, using either 

 geared traction or beam track and partially submerged wheels. 

 Several systems on this plan have been elaborated which would, if 

 fairly demonstrated, possibly prove efficient and valuable. 



By far the most simple and probably the most practicable 

 method of applying generated power, is to apply it on the tow path, 

 by traction ; that is, a motor drawing the boat. Three mules with 

 their sharp shoes gripping the path will draw two loaded boats two 

 and a half miles per hour ; while it will take an engine of from forty 

 to fifty horse power, turning the propellor, to accomplish the same 

 result. A motor of twenty horse power will draw a train of ten or 

 more boats, if arranged under proper conditions, at a speed of from 

 four to five miles per hour. 



A traction motor would probably do best if operated by elec- 

 tricity. It should be low, narrow and heavy. Double tracks would 

 admit of boats passing in both directions. A guard rail running 

 lengthwise on the top of the motor, with the ends sweeping nearly to 

 the ground, would act as an automatic device for picking up and 

 passing the tow ropes. When navigation is suspended the tow path 

 railroad could be used for transporting of freight and passengers. 



The question of how to overcome the resistance of the water is 

 probably the most interesting and important with which we have to 

 deal. It is found in marine engineering that a steamer, we will say, 

 of three hundred feet in length and thirty feet beam can be propelled 

 almost as fast as a steamer but two hundred feet in length and the 

 same beam, using the same power. For the same reason a single log 

 fifty feet in length will tow much easier than five logs, each ten feet 

 in length, connected by lines. The motive power is expended largely 

 in displacing the water as the boat advances. Each boat in this way 

 makes its own displacement. The motive power should be econo- 

 mized in making one displacement of the water for a train of eight or 

 ten boats. The boats should be built with a convex bow and a 



