270 APPLIED SCIENCE 



public. If I have established this fact, I think you will have no 

 difficulty in believing that the subsidiary electrical problems have 

 been, or will be brought before you in detail on many occasions 

 by many men. In conclusion, I will enumerate some of the uses 

 to which telpher lines may be put. They will convey goods, 

 such as grain, coals, and all kinds of minerals, gravel, sand, meat, 

 fish, salt, manure, fruit, vegetables ; in fact all goods which can 

 be divided conveniently into parcels of two or three hundred- 

 weight. If it were necessary, I should feel no hesitation in de- 

 signing lines to carry weights of 5 or 6 cwt. in each truck. The 

 lines will carry even larger weights, when these, like planks or 

 poles, can be carried by suspension from several coupled trucks. 

 The lines admit of steep inclines ; they also admit of very sharp 

 curves. Mere way leaves are required for their establishment, 

 since they do not interfere with the agricultural use of the ground. 

 They could be established instead of piers, leading out to sea, 

 where they would load and unload ships. With special designs, 

 they could even take goods from the hold of a ship and deliver 

 them into any floor of a warehouse miles away. When esta- 

 blished in countries where no road exists, the line could bring 

 up its own material as a railway does. Moreover, wherever these 

 lines are established, they will be so many sources of power, 

 which can be tapped at any point, for the execution of work by 

 the wayside. Circular saws, or agricultural implements, could be 

 driven by wires connected with the line, and this without stop- 

 ping the traffic on the line itself. In fine, while I do not believe 

 that the suspended telpher lines will ever compete successfully 

 with railways, where the traffic is sufficient to pay a dividend on 

 a large capital, I do believe that telpher lines will find a very 

 extended use as feeders to railways in old countries, and as the 

 cheapest mode of transport in new countries. In presenting this 

 view to you, I rest my argument mainly on the cost of different 

 modes of transport, which may, I believe, be stated approxi- 

 mately as follows : Railway, \d. per ton per mile ; cartage Is. 

 per ton per mile ; telpher lines, 2d. per ton per mile ; and let it 

 be remembered that, in taking the cost of cartage at Is. per 

 mile, the first cost and maintenance of the road is left wholly out 

 of account ; whereas, in my calculations for the telpher line, allow- 

 ance has been made both for establishment and maintenance. 



