Identifier: officialproceedi31rail (find matches)
Title: Official proceedings
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Railway Club of Pittsburgh
Subjects: Railway Club of Pittsburgh Railroads
Publisher: Pittsburgh, Pa. : The Club
Contributing Library: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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chanism. As speeds increase, the advantage ofstreamlining rapidly becomes greater and greater. Furthermore,increased weight of ))ower plant and drive increases the requiredweight of body and trucks and thus handicaps the effort to.jjjtain rapid acceleration. The body of the Autotram has received careful attentionfrom the standpoint of safety, strength and lightness. Afterlong study of numertms materials and combinations of materials,aluminum alloy was decided uj^on^as the best material of con-struction. This material is not only light and strong, ))ut it isof a yielding nature rather than l^rittle. The alloy which was;i(lo)jted is known as Duralumin. Its toughness, its lightnessand its strength make it j^eculiarly fitted for our purposes. The body is oi what is known as the center sill type; adeej; and strong lish-belly beam extends from end to end underthe car flrjor. This beam has a buffer capacity considerciibly inexcess oi .\.iv..\. specifications. This type of construction was 96
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97 adopted principally in the interest of safety, though it also hasother advantages. The only steel or iron used in the body arethe rivets. The sides of the car are of double wall construction.Insulating material completely fills the space between the innerand outer shells of the walls, roof and floor so that the effectof external temperature changes is minimized and also the caris to a high degree sound-proof. The drive from the power plant to the wheels is of thetype known as mechanical dri\e as distinguished from the so-called electric drive. In general, the principles of automotiveconstruction have been followed in designing and building thedrive, but the peculiar requirements of a drive which must ex-tend from a power plant in the body to driving wheels on aswiveling truck have necessitated departure from orthodox auto-motive drives. Certain other features not necessary for ordinaryautomotive purposes have also been included. All units are ofsturdy construction, specially design

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