ELECTRIC RAILWAYS 



Daft, also built several other lines in different parts of 

 the country, constantly improving upon his earlier 

 efforts, sometimes using two overhead trolley wires, 

 with two trolley contacts, thus doing away with the use 

 of the track as a means of current supply, or for use as 

 part of the circuit. Although in recent years double 

 overhead trolleys have largely disappeared, some of 

 them are still in use both in America and in Europe. 



Van Depoele was a Belgian who had come to America 

 in 1869. Although primarily a cabinet-maker, he had 

 a great liking for the study of electricity, and devoted 

 all his spare time and money to efforts to solve the 

 problem of practical street-car propulsion. In 1883, 

 at the Industrial Exposition at Chicago, he operated 

 a car by electricity, using an overhead-trolley system 

 somewhat similar to Daft's. By 1885, ^^ ^^.d made 

 sufficient progress to construct a line one mile long for 

 carrying passengers from the railway station to the 

 Annual Exhibition grounds at Toronto, Canada. On 

 a single track he operated three cars and a motor, carry- 

 ing an overage of ten thousand passengers daily, his 

 train sometimes attaining a speed of thirty miles an hour. 

 For receiving the current he used an underrunning 

 trolley and pole very similar to the form now in common 

 use, this being one of the first instances of employing 

 this particular method of receiving the current. In this 

 system an insulated track was used for returning the 

 current. 



Van Depoele's next venture was the equipment of an 

 electric railway at South Bend, Indiana, on which five 

 separate cars were operated at one time — a thing sup- 



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