Abstract
THE annual general meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers was held in the theatre of the Institution of Civil Engineers on the evenings of the 10th and 11th insts. The usual formal proceedings having been gone through, the retiring President—Mr. E. Windsor Richards—introduced the new President, Mr. Samuel W. Johnson, who is locomotive superintendent to the Midland Railway. There were two papers down for discussion, and there was also an adjourned discussion on a paper entitled “Mechanical Features of Electric Traction,” which had been read and partially discussed at the last meeting of the Institution. This paper was contributed by Mr. Philip Dawson, who is largely interested in the introduction of mechanical appliances in connection with electrical engineering into this country from America. Under these circumstances it was natural that the contribution should be of a general rather than a scientific character. The prominent feature in the paper was the fact that electrical traction has spread so rapidly in America, whilst very little has been done in this country. For instance, out of a total of nearly 15,000 miles of tramways in America in the year 1895, 12,583 miles are worked electrically. Cable traction, wrhich was at one time so popular, and which seemed to have so promising a future before it, has been quite eclipsed by electrical methods, there being only 600 miles of rope tramway in the States in the same year. Steam has even a lower total, there being but 519 miles. Horse traction supplies the balance of something over 1200 miles. Great Britain and the Colonies in the year 1896 had but 167 miles of electric tramway, thus being far below Germany, which had a total of 618 miles. The only other European country having more than 100 miles was Austro-Hungary, with a total of 120 miles. Belgium had 90 miles, France 67, Italy 50, and Switzerland and Russia 30 miles each; whilst other European countries contribute 30 miles altogether.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Nature 57, 379–380 (1898). https://doi.org/10.1038/057379a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/057379a0