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

loo All About Inventions outcome was the gradual increase of the horse-power per vehicle, until motors of 65 horse-power came to be recognised as the general standard. Whereas the 25 horse-power cars of 1895 had carried only a single motor, the heavy inter-urban vehicles are now fitted with four motors, while those moving within the cities are equipped with two motors. At the present moment the aggregate mileage of tramways in the States is approximately 65,000, and the average yearly increase is being maintained. Moreover, Canada, realising the advantages and possibilities of this system of intercommunication between cities and suburbs, is feverishly extending its facilities of this description. Possibly one of the greatest transitions of this character was that carried out in London. The traffic of the metropolis is heavier than in any other city of the world, and the necessity to provide breath- ing space for the millions of toilers within and imme- diately surrounding the historic square mile com- prising the actual City itself, demanded a means of conveyance superior to the horse-drawn tram. The essential conditions which had to be met were cheap fares and rapid travel. At the time the issue reached a critical stage, nothing superior to electric propulsion was available. By the early months of 1910 the tramway system of the metropolis, operated by the London County Council, comprised 132 miles of work- ing lines, of which 112 miles were electrically oper- ated. The far-reaching influence which the con- version to electricity exercised upon the public is revealed from the fact that whereas a round 314,000,000 people were carried by this means during the fiscal