122 



CABLE-KAILWAYS. 



C 



CABLE-RAILWAYS. As understood at pres- 

 ent, a cable-railway is a line of steel rails along 

 which carriages are drawn by a cable made of 

 the best crucible steel wire. Twenty years 

 ago, the only roads operated by cable-traction 

 were comparatively rude affairs, for the most 

 part provided with chains or hempen ropes. 

 These tramways originated in England early 

 last century, and were used mainly for haulage 

 of coal. The first English patent, covering an 

 improvement in the system, was issued to 

 William Chapman in 1808. The patent dis- 

 tinctly foreshadows the present system. An 

 endless rope, passes around a friction-drum 

 revolving on a vertical axis at one end of the 

 line, and at the other end is a grooved wheel 

 around which runs the lower bight of the end- 

 less rope. This wheel is mounted upon a car- 

 riage which runs on an incline, and is suffi- 

 ciently weighted to keep the cable taut. The 

 burden-cars are attached to the main part of 

 the rope between the vertical axis and the 

 tension-carriage. (See Fig. 1.) 



In 1812, E. K. Chapman proposed to stretch 

 a chain along over the tramway, and provide 

 each car with a friction-wheel turned by a 

 crank. The chain was to be wound around 

 the wheel, and when the crank was turned of 

 course the car would move. Then came direct 

 traction, by what was known as the tail-rope 

 system, by which the cars were attached to a 

 moving rope or chain which was wound around 

 a drum at the top of an incline. The cars were 

 drawn up loaded and descended empty, either 



FIG. 1. CHAPMAN'S PATENT, 1808. 



by force of gravity alone, or aided by a " tail- 

 rope," which was attached to the main rope, 

 and was only strong enough to overcome the 

 inertia of the descending train and cable. In 

 1834 William Jaines proposed to employ hol- 

 low rails as receptacles for a moving chain, 

 and to attach carriages thereto. In 1846, E. 

 W. Brandling devised a rudimentary grip, by 

 which two boards were closed upon a moving 

 rope, and the carriage was hauled along. These 

 three inventions were of English origin. In 

 1858, E. S. Gardner, an American, proposed to 

 inclose the moving rope in a tunnel provided 

 with fixed sheaves, and a slot along its length. 

 (See Fig. 2.) The problem of attaching the 

 cars to the rope is dismissed in his claim as 

 immaterial, any mode of connection being 



permissible. This appears to be the germ of 

 the present system of street-railways, which 

 bids fair to supersede the horse-cars, intro- 

 duced about 1850, in the United States, and 

 soon transplanted to Europe, where they are 

 now extensively used. Other patents contem- 

 plated the use of cables elevated on posts, and 

 still others the use of locomotives in subterra- 

 nean tunnels, connected with cars running on 



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-califs 



Tunnel 



FIG. 2. GARDNER'S PATENT, 1858. 



the surface. Such were some of the earlier 

 devices. To enumerate them all would involve 

 a list of about 250 patents issued in the United 

 States alone, and many in foreign countries. 



It was not until 1870 that the first patent for 

 a grip-pulley was issued to Andrew S. Hallidie, 

 of San Francisco. Subsequently he took out 

 many patents on the equipment of cable-roads, 

 and in 1872 he succeeded in securing enough 

 co-operation to justify the construction of a 

 line on Clay Street, in San Francisco, Cal. The 

 problem was to provide a means of transit to 

 and from the high hills that rise a short dis- 

 tance from the water-side, and afford the best 

 building-sites in the city. The difficulties en- 

 countered in operating horse-car lines on these 

 hills suggested the need of some improved 

 method, and in June, 1873, the construction of 

 the Clay Street cable-road was begun. The 

 terms of the franchise required that cars should 

 be run 'on Aug. 1, and at 4 A. M. on the morn- 

 ing of that day the engine was started, and the 

 wire rope, 7,000 feet long, ran smoothly over 

 its sheaves and through the long tunnel. A 

 dummy-car, provided with the inventor's grip, 

 had been hauled to the top of the incline, and 

 Mr. Hallidie himself was obliged to take charge 

 of it the courage of the man detailed for the 

 duty failing at the last moment. Eight volun- 

 teers accompanied him, and the round trip was 

 successfully accomplished, the car stopping at 

 crossings, dropping the cable and picking it up 

 again, and, in short, doing all that was expect- 

 ed of it. In the afternoon of the same day a 

 public trial was attempted, with a passenger- 

 car attached to the dummy. A very large, 

 good-natured, and somewhat uncontrollable 

 crowd assembled, and, after the down-trip had 

 been safely made, the car was stormed in spite 

 of the police, and about sixty persons insisted 

 on a free ride up the hill at their own risk. 

 This crowded the car far beyond its capacity, 

 and subjected the cable and machinery to a 



