Chapter I: Front Matter

General Electric Company.]

Electric Railways

_A Treatise on the_
MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRIC TRACTION, INCLUDING PRACTICAL
INSTRUCTION IN THE LATEST APPROVED METHODS
OF ELECTRIC RAILROAD EQUIPMENT
AND OPERATION

ELECTRIC RAILWAYS
_By_ +James R. Cravath+
Western Editor “The Street Railway Journal”

THE SINGLE-PHASE ELECTRIC RAILWAY
_By_ +Harris C. Trow+, S.B.
American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Editor Textbook Department,
American School of Correspondence

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO
AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CORRESPONDENCE
1908

+Copyright 1907 by
American School of Correspondence+

Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London
All Rights Reserved

Foreword

In recent years, such marvelous advances have been made in the engineering and scientific fields, and so rapid has been the evolution of mechanical and constructive processes and methods, that a distinct need has been created for a series of _practical working guides_, of convenient size and low cost, embodying the accumulated results of experience and the most approved modern practice along a great variety of lines. To fill this acknowledged need, is the special purpose of the series of handbooks to which this volume belongs.

¶ In the preparation of this series, it has been the aim of the publishers to lay special stress on the _practical_ side of each subject, as distinguished from mere theoretical or academic discussion. Each volume is written by a well-known expert of acknowledged authority in his special line, and is based on a most careful study of practical needs and up-to-date methods as developed under the conditions of actual practice in the field, the shop, the mill, the power house, the drafting room, the engine room, etc.

¶ These volumes are especially adapted for purposes of self-instruction and home study. The utmost care has been used to bring the treatment of each subject within the range of the common understanding, so that the work will appeal not only to the technically trained expert, but also to the beginner and the self-taught practical man who wishes to keep abreast of modern progress. The language is simple and clear; heavy technical terms and the formulæ of the higher mathematics have been avoided, yet without sacrificing any of the requirements of practical instruction; the arrangement of matter is such as to carry the reader along by easy steps to complete mastery of each subject; frequent examples for practice are given, to enable the reader to test his knowledge and make it a permanent possession; and the illustrations are selected with the greatest care to supplement and make clear the references in the text.

¶ The method adopted in the preparation of these volumes is that which the American School of Correspondence has developed and employed so successfully for many years. It is not an experiment, but has stood the severest of all tests—that of practical use—which has demonstrated it to be the best method yet devised for the education of the busy working man.

¶ For purposes of ready reference and timely information when needed, it is believed that this series of handbooks will be found to meet every requirement.

Table of Contents

+Car Equipment+ Page 3

Classification of Electric Railways — Motors — Armature Winding
— Armature and Field Coils — Armature and Motor Leads —
Brushes and Brush-Holders — Gearing — Lubrication — Bearings —
Motor Suspension — Electric Locomotive Motors — Controllers —
Rheostat and Series-Parallel Control — Controller Construction —
Multiple-Unit Control (Sprague, General Electric, Westinghouse
Electro-Pneumatic) — Car-Heaters — Car Wiring — Electric-Car
Accessories (Canopy Switches; Circuit-Breakers; Fuses; Lightning
Arresters; Lamp Circuits; Trolley-Base; Trolley-Poles, Wheels,
and Harp; Contact Shoes; Sleet Wheels) — Single Trucks —
Swivel Trucks — Maximum-Traction Trucks — Car Wheels — Brake
Rigging — Air-Brakes (Compressor, Automatic Governor, Storage
Tanks) — Momentum Brakes — G. E. Electric Brake — Westinghouse
Electromagnetic Brake — Track Brakes — Motors as Emergency Brakes
— Brake Shoes — Track Sanders — Drawbars and Couplers.

+Car Construction+ Page 67

Car Bodies — Steel Car Framing — Car Weights — Car Painting.

+Line Construction+ Page 73

Overhead Construction — Trolley-Wire — Clamps and Ears — Span
Wires — Brackets — Feeders — Section Insulators — High-Tension
Lines — Third-Rail System — Conduit Systems — Contact Plow —
Current Leakage — Track Construction — Girder Rail — Trilby
Groove Rail — Shanghai T-Rail — Common T-Rail — Track Support
— Ballast — Joints (Welded, Cast-Welded, Electrically Welded,
Thermit-Welded) — Bonding and Return Circuits — Feeder Systems —
Block Signals — Electrolysis and Its Prevention.

+Power Supply and Distribution+ Page 98

Direct-Current Feeding — Booster Feeding — Alternating-Current
Transmission — Interurban Distribution — Power-House Location
— Alternating-Current Generators — Double-Current Generators
— General Plan of Power Stations — Switchboards — Generator
D. C. Panels — Starting Up a Generator — Feeder Panel —
Alternating-Current Switchboards — High-Tension Oil-Switches —
Storage Batteries in Stations — Three-Phase Motors — Single-Phase
Motors.

+Operation of Electric Railways+ Page 115

Power Taken by Cars — Road Tests of Cars — Economy in Power —
Sliding and Spinning Wheels — Testing for Faults — Bond Testing
— Motor-Coil Testing — Grounds — Burn-Outs — Defects of Armature
Windings — Sparking at Commutator — Failure of Car to Start —
Open-Circuit Tests — Short-Circuit Tests — Fuse-Blows — Armature
and Field Tests for Grounds — Reversed Fields — Car Repair Shops.

+The Single-Phase Electric Railway+ Page 137

Commutator Type Single-Phase Motor — Advantages and Disadvantages
of Single-Phase System — Lines in Operation.

+Index+ Page 149

St. Louis Transit Company’s Power House.
Fulton Iron Works.]

ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.