A SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT WITH TELPHERAGE

A correspondent who recently visited Lord Hampden's seat at Glynde, in Sussex, expresses surprise that the system of telpherage which is in operation there is not attracting more attention. The apathy with which the invention – which was the work of three professors of mechanics, by name Jenkins [sic], Ayrton and Perry – is regarded, illustrates the slowness with which scientific aids to industry are made use of. Telpherage has been successfully used at Glynde for the past two years, but has not yet been turned to account anywhere else, although calculated to be of universal utility. At Glynde the telpher train conveys Portland cement from the quarries to the railway station, 360 tons being removed every week at a much smaller cost than carting. The line is about a mile and a half in length, and passes over a winding river several times. The train consists of ten small trucks, and runs over two thick wire ropes suspended across what look like telegraph poles, at a uniform speed of four miles an hour. The trains run continuously, each carrying a ton of cement. The electricity – generated by a machine on the spot – is applied on a platform fixed at each end of the line, while additional impetus is obtained by what may be termed the undulations of the wire ropes