The electric delivery trucks owned by the Gorham Company, of New York.
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or electikity. Out of this large number there are over 1,000 electrically-driven heavy lorries, with a load capacity of from two to seven tons, and there are at least 3,600 clelivery vans which owe their propulsion to the same power. The storage batteries which have the greatest sale are those manufactured by the " Exide " and " Gould " companies. The former type has been, and is still, very popular, but the productions of the latter company are having an increasing sale, owing to their many good qualities. The positive and negative plates used in the manufacture of the " Gould " storage batteries are of the Plante, or solid, type, but all the plates arc spun into the required section. The sheet-lead blanks that eventually form the plates are placed in frames which reciprocate between two rapidly revolving shafts. These shafts carry steel discs, and the discs are held at a pre-determined distance apart by spacing washers. A uniform pressure is maintained against the lead blanks by the steel discs, with the conse-quence that ridges, and grooves, are funned upon them. "The important feature to observe, in this system of manufacture, is that no lead is removed, but that the lead blank is merely changed in outward appearance, and its face worked up to give a very large effective surface. The active gents in this battery are " formed " by the usual electrochemical process in a bath, the liquid of which penetrates the interstices between the ridges on the lead. As the end of the case that contains them are backed against a " skip-way ;" a mechanical " puller" is then attached to the accumulators, and this hauls them out of the case, after which, they are immediately carried away by the mechanical " skip," and a fresh battery is next pushed into the case by a hydraulic ram, the whole operation taking only One minute to perform.
In the case of a lorry, or van, having a battery slung from beneath the main framework, the procedure is slightly different. The vehicle is run over a small hydraulic lift, which afterwards rises against the underside of the battery. The fastenings are then unhooked, and the ram is lowered so as to drop the platform to a room below. The battery is pushed off the ram, and a fresh one put in its place. The ram once more rises with its load, which is locked in position by some simple system of hooks : average time one minute for the whole operation. It will thus be seen that the argument so often advanced, viz., that valuable time is wasted in exchanging exhausted batteries for fresh ones, may be dismissed, as far as it concerns New York.
As an instance of the rapid increase in the use of electrical vehicles, some interesting figures may be cited : these concern the New York Transportation Company. This undertaking began its career in the year 1890 with moo vehicles. The company now owns hansoms, broughams, omnibuses, and heavy Lorries to the number of