774 REPORT — 1891. 



only two. The circumstances of the case determiue how many through leads 

 are necessary, and also what the main source of electricity must be. 



In every case, however (except in omnibus trains), we use the double system of 

 main and auxiliary lamps with main and auxiliary supply of electricity. 



TUESDAY, AUGUST 25. 

 The following Papers were read : — 

 1. An Electrical Parcel Exchange System. Bij A. R. Bennett, M.LE.E. 



The congested state of the streets in many of the large towns, notably in the 

 City of London, invites reflection as to whether it is not possible to devise means 

 by which vehicular trathc may to a certain extent he diminished. To avoid 

 absolute blocking of the thoroughfares, it is now necessary to forbid the collection 

 or delivery of goods in certain localities during business hours, and trade certainlv 

 suffers under such restrictions, while warehouses have to be of larger capacity 

 than would be needed were the free receipt and despatch of goods permissible. 

 The author develops a scheme by which parcels and small packages may be fieely 

 interchanged between the various buildings of a town by means of miniature 

 electric railways laid preferably, but not necessarily, underground, in pipes or 

 culverts. Such pipes may be laid along the principal thoroughfares, communicat- 

 ing to the right and left by means of spurs or sidings with the premises of the 

 subscribers to the system. In imitation of a telephone exchange, the pipes con- 

 verge at one or more central stations, where operators having sole control of the 

 trafiic are on duty, and where are situated the dynamos and other apparatus. 

 The scheme may be worked out in various ways," but the autlior proposes, by 

 preference, a rectangular tube carrying two tracli's' or lines of rails, one above the 

 other, the lower being used for the down, and the upper for the up, traffic. On 

 the rails run trucks fitted with electro-motors, deriving propelling current from 

 a parallel conductor laid between the two tracks, so that on the down journey 

 trucks gather current by a collector pressing on the under, and on the up journey 

 by one pressing against the upper, surface of the conductor. By dividing one of 

 the rails of each track into insulated sections, the operators, by watching miniature 

 semaphore signals placed in the central station, and worked by electro-magnets, 

 are enabled to tell on which section a truck is, and to follow its progress out and 

 home with the greatest exactitude. The sidings into the premises served are 

 connected to the main line by switches resembling those of an ordinary railway, 

 which are normally, by means of springs, kept in their position for through trathc, 

 but which by the agency of electi'icity the operator at the Central Station can put 

 over so as to connect with the sidings. The tracks enter the premises one above 

 the other, but if there is room available, they then diverge and effect a junction, so 

 that trucks can be shifted from the down to the up line without lifting them off 

 the rails. On entering a siding a truck automatically signals the operator that it 

 IS clear of the main line, and on running into the premises it is brought up by 

 means of catches and springs, which are depressed in one direction only, and which 

 also serve to announce its arrival by ringing electric bells, and prevent its being 

 returned by error or design into the tube on the wrong track. The connections of 

 the motor are so arranged that a truck, even if placed on the wrong line, would 

 not move backwards so as to cause a collision. The up track is blocked at the 

 sending end, so that, although a truck may be placed on the up siding ready for 

 despatch, it cannot obtain propelling current until the operator has a clear road 

 for it. lie then electrically removes the block, and gives the truck current by 

 which it is brought into the Central. The operators have thus complete control 

 over the rnovements of trucks. "When a truck, or train of trucks, is intended by 

 one subscriber for another, it is despatched in the first instance to the Central, 



