THE CONQUEST OF TIME AND SPACE 



posed by many to be impossible. The cars of this road 

 were equipped with motors placed under the cars instead 

 of above them, thus saving valuable seating-space. In 

 place of the underrunning trolley and pole, however, 

 the current was taken from the overhead wire by means 

 of a flexible cable. Later Van Depoele invented an 

 underrunning trolley and pole, taking out the original 

 patents. His claims to priority were contested event- 

 ually, but they were sustained by the United States 

 courts. 



At this time there were at least a score of inventors 

 whose work added something of importance to the 

 solution of the problem of electric traction. But with- 

 out belittling others, it is probably only justice to say 

 that the work of Frank J. Sprague, a one-time lieutenant 

 in the United States Navy, marks the beginning of the 

 modem era of street railways. In 1888, after a period 

 of struggle and a series of disheartening disasters, Mr. 

 Sprague and his associates opened an electric line for 

 the Union Passenger Railway of Richmond, Va., which 

 "forms a landmark in the history of this industrial 

 development." Over a line of road with grades at that 

 time considered impossible, thirty cars were put into 

 use at the same time, the contract for the equipment 

 calling for its completion in ninety days. The success 

 of this enterprise, when on the opening day more electric 

 cars were operated than in all the rest of America to- 

 gether, settled forever the question of the practicality 

 of electric street railways, as well as many of the ques- 

 tions of the practical application of the current, thanks 

 to Sprague's inventive genius. 



[1861 



