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[Biiterea at the Posi-Offloe of New Yoi-k, N. V., as Second-Class Matter.] 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Skvknth Year. 

 Vol. XIII. No. 326. 



NEW YORK, May 3, i5 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 53.50 Per Year, in Advance. 



STORAGE-BATTERIES FOR STREET-CARS. 



The last car which the Julien Electric Traction Company put 

 into actual passenger service (Car No. 7), and which is the stand- 

 ard type of car that they have finally adopted, is making five round 

 trips per day between 86th Street and Madison Avenue and the 

 Post Office, or 57I miles daily. This is a car-day's work on that 

 line. They claim a saving per year in favor of the Julien system, 



Car No. i, on the Fourth Avenue line, commenced service on 

 Sept. 3, and on April 8 the batteries were examined for the first 

 time. They had not in this period been lifted from the cells to be 

 cleaned or inspected. It is claimed that they were found to be in 

 as good condition as when they were put in service ; not a single 

 plate in the whole battery showing any wear, injury, or deprecia- 

 tion. 



At one time it was thought that the handling of the batteries in 



STREETCAR DRIVEN BY JULIEN STORAGE-BATTERIES. 



on each car, as compared with horse-cars, of $2,719.25, and that 

 the net earnings will more than pay the entire cost of the car and 

 its equipment at the end of the first year. During the lime (forty 

 days) the car has been in operation, neither the batteries nor the 

 motors have required attention or the expenditure of one dollar 

 for repairs or renewals. Even the brushes, it is claimed, have not 

 been changed, nor do they show any wear. 



this system of traction would be a serious obstacle ; but this com- 

 pany has now a battery-shifting device, whereby, in the length of a 

 car-body, and on either side of the pit over which the car stands in 

 the station, sufficient batteries are stored and manipulated to do 

 the work of one hundred and thirty-five horses. The racks which 

 contain the batteries, and the hoists, which are run by two small 

 stationary motors, do not, in all, cover as many cubic feet as two 



