Electric car developed in Toronto in 1896 Has anyone ever heard of it ?

[Mark Gregory]

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/the-way-we-were-early-electric-car-developed-in-toronto

Creating such a vehicle was the a result of an idea put forward by prominent city patent attorney Frederick Fetherstonaugh. He had been keeping a close eye on the various propulsion ideas being put forward in Great Britain as well as south of the border and eventually decided to develop his own automobile — one powered by electricity

As described in a Globe newspaper account dated Dec. 7, 1896, Fred got together with John Dixon, who owned the Dixon Carriage Works factory on Bay St. near Temperance St., and together they designed a vehicle that weighed 700 pounds and was steered using a tiller.

To propel the vehicle, William Still — a well-known electrician who lived and worked at 70 Yorkville Ave. — was commissioned to design and build an electric motor that would be the revolutionary Fetherstonhaugh/Dixon vehicle’s power plant. It took Still 18 months to complete his work and finally on Dec. 5, 1896, with a recent snow storm having made the streets impassable, the pioneer electric car made several circuits of the interior of the carriage factory.

It was estimated that once out on the streets the vehicle, powered by Still’s four horsepower motor that weighed a mere 100 pounds and was supplied with electricity from 270 pounds worth of lead-acid storage batteries, could achieve at least 15 miles per hour. And it was claimed that recharging would be necessary after five hours of street running time.

Fetherstonaugh, whose suburban home, Lynne Lodge, was located west of the city on the south side of Lakeshore Rd. near the foot of Church St. (today’s Royal York Rd.), had a rather interesting way of recharging his vehicle’s batteries.

Outside the front door of the Lodge were the tracks of the Toronto and Mimico Electric Light and Railway company whose radial cars (streetcars) operated on 550 (later 600) DC volts of electric current drawn from an overhead wire. (The steel rails acted as “return”). Using a carefully installed “extension cord” he was able to draw off the power he needed to charge his car’s batteries.

Did the radial railway company know about this? Don’t ask.

 

Edited January 25, 2020 by Mark Gregory (see edit history)

[TerryB]

He was a brave (or silly) person to tap into the high voltage wires!

[8E45E]

Yes, some history here: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2018/mstc-cstm/NM33-1-15-eng.pdf

 

And the hard-copy publication is still available:  https://ingeniumcanada.org/boutique/en/transformation-series/640-a-brief-history-of-the-canadian-automobile-industry-1900-1980.html

 

Craig

[padgett]

It's not the volts, its the amps.

 

[TerryB]

Good video!  Yes it’s the combo of voltage and amps that makes danger.  Static electricity is a good example of lots of volts and virtually no amps.