Article July 11, 1901 Issue

An Aerial Trolley

The proposed system of electrical transportation known as "telpherage" (Greek tele far, and pherein to carry), to which much attention is being directed, was invented some years since, but has only recently been brought into prominence. It is an elevated cable system in which, like the electric car, the traveler is propelled by its own motor. The following description is taken from the Electrical World and Engineer:—

The telpher travels along a bearing cable and takes current by rolling contact from a lighter wire suspended just above it. Either a single unit telpher or a double unit may be employed for the work, with or without a trailer, the single unit consisting of two small enclosed motors and the double unit of four motors. The hanging or slinging arrangements attached to the telphers or the trailers are of a great variety of shapes and styles, adapted to the transportation of all kinds of loose or easily divisible material, such as bags, barrels, coal, bricks, fruit, etc.; while a ready combination of one or two trailers lends itself easily to the transportation of long pieces, such as lumber, rails, tubes, drain-pipe, etc. One of the most remarkable things in connection with the work is to witness the manner in which telpher units of not to exceed one fourth to one half horse-power will travel at a rate of five or six miles an hour with loads of several hundred pounds on lines running around sharp curves and even up steep inclines. The current consumption is surprisingly small.

At the present time, in addition to the production of its apparatus, the company has found it a task of no mean description to attend to all the applications which have poured in upon it from commercial and engineering concerns for agencies, and these, both domestic and foreign, are being assigned as rapidly as possible. The development has attracted the liveliest interest abroad, and was recently investigated by the engineers of a leading English electrical firm; while one of the requests from Russia came from Prince Hilkoff, who desires to equip several miles with the system, which is obviously much lighter and cheaper to construct than railroads, while it does not encroach in any way on highway rights and does not impose any difficulties as to crossings, etc., along the routes it traverses. The utilization of the system for transporting mail and express matter has already been taken up, and applications have been received from managers of telephone and trolley lines, who see in this light and flexible electrical system a means of getting an additional service out of their pole lines, while at the same time subserving for purposes of varied freight transportation the necessities of the districts they cover. The conveyance of mail matter is peculiarly within the function of this apparatus. as letters and papers can be concentrated into very small bulk for transportation, and the deliveries can be made with great frequency where, under existing conditions, the postman can go over his route but once or twice a day at the most.

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