[Entered at ilie Posi-UOice ot New York, N.Y., as Second-Class Matter.] 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Sevknih Year. 

 Vol. XIII. No. 329. 



NEW YORK, May 24, i5 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 ^3.50 Per Year, in Advance. 



THE DAFT ELECTRIC ROAD IN CINCINNATI. 



In response to the request for data as to the electric road known 

 as the " Kerper Walnut Hills Electric Road," now being operated 

 by the Daft system of double-trolley underneath contact, it may be 

 said that it is not generally known that this is the only system of 

 double- trolley underneath contact in successful commercial opera- 

 tion in the United States to-day. It is not intended to imply that 

 there had not been attempts made in this direction ; but it has gen- 

 erally been claimed, that, with parallel wires, a double underneath 



as presenting features which would recommend itself to the gen- 

 eral public. Some difficulty was met with in the operation of this 

 road at first, owing to the peculiar demands made upon it at the 

 McMillan Street and Gilbert Avenue junction. Here concentres 

 an enormous traffic from the Walnut Hills district and the out- 

 lying suburbs ; in fact, the narrow artery at the head of Gilbert 

 Avenue was practically the only outlet for the vast traffic into and 

 out of Cincinnati. 



To Mr. George B. Kerper great credit is due for the solving of 

 what was a most vexatious problem. By him a further extension 



-^.^.■.Fl'r -'Mru'Sj 



"WM. 



DAFT ELECTRIC ROAD, WALNUT HILLS, CINCINNATI. 



contact was impracticable. Not that such operation was not de- 

 sirable, because the obtainment of absolute freedom from interrup- 

 tion to telegraphic, telephonic, and fire-alarm service that such a 

 system gave, could not well be any thing else but desirable. 



To Mr. George B. Kerper, the president of the Mount Adams 

 and Eden Park Inclined and Gilbert Avenue Railways, credit is 

 due for the introduction of electricity for the operation of street- 

 railways in Cincinnati, More than a year ago he foresaw that this 

 new force was moving rapidly to the front in its adaptability to 

 street-car propulsion. Casting about, he selected the Daft system 



of the road into Mount Adams and Eden Park Cut was determined 

 upon, a new contract was made, and in thirty days from the date 

 thereof the Daft Electric Company had completely reconstructed 

 the whole line, refurnished its entire equipment, substituting the 

 double underneath for the double overhead contact, and, without 

 a break, set the car in commercial operation. 



As a confirmation of the judgment of Mr. Kerper as to the value 

 of the Daft system, the remarkable manner in which this double 

 underneath contact trolley furnished by the Daft Company fulfils 

 its purpose, the symmetrical and enduring character of its struc- 



