This
general idea, moreover, has been put in practice by several constructors.
In the Messrs. Siemens Bros.' electric railway that figured at Paris in
1881 the arrangement adopted for taking up the current consisted of two
split tubes from which were suspended two small contact carriages that
communicated with the electric car through the intermedium of flexible
cables. This is the mode of construction that Messrs. Siemens and Halske
have adopted in the railway from Frankfort to Offenbach. While the Paris
road was of an entirely temporary character, that of Frankfort has been
built according to extremely well studied plans, and after much light
having been thrown upon the question of electric traction by three years
of new experiments.
Fig. 1 shows the electric car at the moment of its start from Frankfort,
Fig. 2 shows the arrangement of a turnout, and Fig. 3 gives a general plan
of the electric works.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--THE ELECTRIC RAILWAY, FRANKFORT, GERMANY.]
The two grooved tubes are suspended from insulators fixed upon external
cast iron supports. As for the conductors, which have their resting points
upon ordinary insulators mounted at the top of the same supports, these
are cables composed of copper and steel.
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