662 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



fuel, repairs, stores — all but the interest on engines, shops, and 

 engine houses — is included ; but the coachmen used to get no pay 

 from the proprietors, and were paid by the passengers. 



Now, if we in this country pay less for horses, it is because we 

 never have kept the high speed of the English. We waste the 

 time of passengers, which is as good as money. Even on city 

 railways, a third of the time might be saved by engines that can 

 start quickly and keep the maximum speed up the grades. But 

 poor as our speed is, it costs more than steam. Mr. Eastman 

 states the cost per mile of running cars on the horse railways 

 near Boston at 25 to 28 cents per mile ; or as much to draw a 

 horse car at eight miles per hour as to draw seven large cars at 

 30 miles per hour by steam. 



The plan referred to the Committee claims to be considered as 

 a competitor of horse-power for city railways. Those who sup- 

 pose that steam is odjectionable in cities will probably be glad to 

 find that compressed air can be used as a substitute for it, and 

 can work for much less cost than horses, and thus drive them 

 from street railways, and so get rid of a considerable part of the 

 dirt. 



Some of the projectors of steam carriages expected that com- 

 pressed air would be substituted for steam for small carriages 

 after steam carriages had become numerous enough to warrant 

 the establishment of compressing stations wherever they are 

 wanted; but until such stations are established, it is evident 

 that compressed air cannot be used for general purposes. There 

 are also other means known to chemists. Lardner stated that 

 . there were over twenty substances which philosophers regarded as 

 capable of being used instead of steam, and he ventured the pre- 

 diction that the steam engine would some time exist only in his- 

 tory. While your Committee do not deem themselves warranted 

 in assenting to such anticipations, they certainly consider that 

 such authorities should outweigh the mere skeptics who discour- 

 age all attempts at improvement. And they believe that the ap- 

 plication of compressed air to street railways is worthy of trial. 



J. K. FISHER, 

 JOHN JOHNSON, 

 Committee. 



Mr. Dibben objected to the use of compressed air ; there is a 

 serious loss due to the heat generated by the compression. We 

 have a loss by friction in compressing the air ; then this loss 



