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.

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