Popular Science Monthly 



861 



Map showing cableway. Note the small portion 

 which extends over New York State 



counterweight box, arranged in steel 

 guides similar to the track-cable counter- 

 weights. This creates a tension which 

 adjusts any slack caused by the rising 

 and falling of the car. At San Sebastian 

 the car holds only fourteen passengers, 

 but at Niagara seats are provided for 

 twenty-four passengers and standing 

 room in a raised aisle for twenty-one 

 more besides the 

 conductor. 



The engineers 

 have determin- 

 ed to a nicety 

 what would 

 happen to the 

 car if the trac- 

 tion cable were 

 to break. As 

 the two termi- 

 nals are nearly 

 at the same 

 height above 

 the river level, 

 one being 249.5 

 ft.andtheother, 

 246.5 ft., they 

 figure that the car would run backwards 

 and forwards along the track cables 

 until it came gently to rest at the lowest 

 point of the sag of the cable, which 

 would be about the center of the span 

 or directly over New York State. A 

 light basket which holds one man and 

 which hangs from pulleys which can be 

 readily thrown over two of the track 

 cables, would be used in the rescue work. 

 The emergency man would attach a re- 

 lief cable to the marooned car, and an 

 auxiliary engine installed for the purpose 

 would pull the car back to Thompson's 

 Point. 



Some Interesting Safety Devices 



There are several safety devices of 

 ingenious construction, among the num- 

 ber being an automatic control stop 

 which halts the car within three feet of 

 the concrete station. A clamp on the 

 car strikes the face of the control stop, 

 prevents the car from traveling farther, 

 and then engages with it in such a 

 manner that the car cannot slip back 

 from the landing platform. Further- 

 more, the car gates cannot be opened 

 until the clamp has engaged with the 

 control stop, and even then only the 



right gates can be opened. In addition 

 to this, there are limit switches which 

 prevent the power from being turned on 

 again, and thus jam the car against the 

 station once the power has been shut off. 

 To string the cables across the 

 Whirlpool the traction and track towers 

 and sheaves were first erected. Then a 

 long rope was carried around the face of 



the cliff from 



Colt's Point to 

 Thompson's 

 Point. When 

 this was pulled 

 taut a wire rope 

 was hauled 

 across with the 

 aid of a hoist- 

 ing engine, and 

 then the trac- 

 tion cable was 

 pulled into 

 place. This 

 cable was used 

 to haul the track 

 cables across. 

 The trip from 

 from point to point can be made in 

 about five minutes. To test the car 

 cast-iron bars weighing thirty nine thou- 

 sand and nineteen pounds, or three 

 times the working load of the car with 

 forty to fort3'-five passengers, were dis- 

 tributed on the floor. A trestle was 

 built and the car was suspended by its 

 wheels from it. The test was satisfac- 

 torilv met. 



Inventions for the Navy 



LAST July, Secretary of the Navy 

 -/ Josephus Daniels announced the 

 creation of a board, afterwards desig- 

 nated as the Naval Consulting Board, 

 headed by Thomas A. Edison, for the 

 purpose of aiding in the development 

 of the Navy and the defense of the 

 nation, by giving expert consideration 

 to the many needs of the Navy and 

 the many in\entions that might be sub- 

 mitted to it. Public announcement of 

 the creation of this board was accom- 

 panied by an invitation from the Navy 

 Department to the in\entors of the 

 country to submit their ideas. 



Seven months later, not less than five 

 thousand inventions, ideas and sugges- 

 tions had been received. 



