[LB054582], Letter from Alfred Ord Tate to Charles F White, December 11th, 1891
https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/LB054582
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Title
[LB054582], Letter from Alfred Ord Tate to Charles F White, December 11th, 1891
Author
Recipient
Mentioned
Date
1891-12-11
Type
Subject
Folder/Volume ID
LB054-F
Microfilm ID
142:1084
Document ID
LB054582
Publisher
Thomas A. Edison Papers, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University
Has Version
Item sets
Transcription
Dec. 11, 1891.
C. F. White, Esq., Editor,
Daily Herald,
Dunkirk, N. Y.
Dear Sir:-
Reply to your letter of 30th ultimo has been delayed owing to the necessity of my having to forward it to Mr. Edison, who is at present absent from home.
In answer to your question as to whether Mr. Edison regards iron poles, used for supporting the wires of an electric railroad (trolley system) a greater menace to life than wooden ones used for the same purpose. Mr. Edison has instructed me to say to you that in his opinion there is very little danger in either case, provided the railroad company employs the usual five hundred volt continuous current. Iron poles in sleet storms would certainly be safer than wooden ones, and where the traffic will warrant it, iron poles should always be installed, as they are the cheapest in the long run. But on a railroad where the traffic is light, and where the strictest economy has to be observed in order to make both ends meet, it is sometimes a hardship to compel the Company to place iron poles along their [tracks] when considerable saving could be effected by erecting wooden poles.
Yours truly,
A. O. Tate
Private Secretary.
C. F. White, Esq., Editor,
Daily Herald,
Dunkirk, N. Y.
Dear Sir:-
Reply to your letter of 30th ultimo has been delayed owing to the necessity of my having to forward it to Mr. Edison, who is at present absent from home.
In answer to your question as to whether Mr. Edison regards iron poles, used for supporting the wires of an electric railroad (trolley system) a greater menace to life than wooden ones used for the same purpose. Mr. Edison has instructed me to say to you that in his opinion there is very little danger in either case, provided the railroad company employs the usual five hundred volt continuous current. Iron poles in sleet storms would certainly be safer than wooden ones, and where the traffic will warrant it, iron poles should always be installed, as they are the cheapest in the long run. But on a railroad where the traffic is light, and where the strictest economy has to be observed in order to make both ends meet, it is sometimes a hardship to compel the Company to place iron poles along their [tracks] when considerable saving could be effected by erecting wooden poles.
Yours truly,
A. O. Tate
Private Secretary.