All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

96 All About Inventions end of which was a small wheel which ran along the underside of the wire. The current thus gathered passed to the motors and returned through the run- ning rails to the generating station. From the fact that the current was collected from the conductor by a trolling or revolving device mounted upon the end of the pole, extending upwards from the roof of the car, this system of operation became known as the “ trolley,” which distinction is still maintained. By this time it was recognised that the electric tramway was destined to become the deciding factor for the development of outlying districts into resi- dential centres, for all classes of the community, thereby avoiding congestion in the towns and cities, which had been attaining hazardous proportions be- cause the workers were compelled to live as near as possible to the scenes of their labours. The electric tramway has played a vital role in the growth of American towns and cities. It has enabled the boundaries to be pushed farther and farther outwards. It has developed highroads which otherwise would never have come into existence. Many a swath has been driven through woods, fields and marshes to carry, in the first instance, a pair of rails for the tramcars. For years, perhaps, this road has seen little other traffic, and has been existent more in name than reality. But in time the necessity to fashion the road according to modern ideas has arisen, with the result that, ultimately, what was first merely a channel for the tramcar has developed into a main artery for the movement of all vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The tramway has been the pioneer in opening up new outlying areas.