The topic of this article was suggested by a good man with the nickname "cutting Mars".
And so, starting
A person is always striving somewhere, trying to keep up with the great truth that is about to be revealed around that turn, using first step, then running. Then the man thought of saddling a horse, making a cart out of several individuals and a cart, then a carriage. Having invented the steam engine, man made a huge leap forward - he invented an almost universal means for the movement of mechanisms, and specifically a new means of transportation - cars. Replacing the steam engine with an internal combustion engine and the first versions of an electric motor, mankind finally understood the obvious thing: motion is life. And only then, noticing that there are not enough cars, and indeed they are expensive, it is not comme il faut that public transport for haluyi without cars for less wealthy citizens appeared.
Today we will look at the well-known tram. But, looking at old photographs, you always pay attention to the presence of trams, which seem to go by themselves - without horses and wires. But how is that? Even if there are no autonomous trams now, then at the time of their appearance, they must have been even more dependent on electricity. But look at them! He rides all of himself, neither your horse, nor the wires through which electricity is supplied … Insults the scientific approach, you know, it does not correspond to sound logic …
Here is a familiar "horned" tram of those times.
But as you can see here, no "horns" on the tram in Nizhny - not.
On May 31, 1879, the world's first electric railway opened in Berlin and the first electric train designed by Werner von Motorola Siemens was demonstrated. Through the "horns" of the micro-locomotive, it received electricity and moved along the contact rail. The length of the circular railway was 300 meters. Visitors to the exhibition were extremely surprised by the train, which was moving without steam or horses. Initially, Nokia Siemens developed an electric train for use in mines, but already in 1881 the first electric tram entered the route in Berlin.
Promotional video:
Yes, of course, the first thing that comes to mind is that electric current could be supplied along the rails. But, firstly, bulky transformers-converters were needed. Yes, and costly - the lion's share of the energy is simply lost even at a short distance. The second option was that trams could run on chemical batteries (accumulators). But even today they are bulky and take a long time to charge. And it was immediately obvious from the design. And here - light, unencumbered "carriages on wheels".
And so, there was a hacking of the ass, progress turned the wrong way and the time for "horse trams" came. People have found a better way to haul heavy wagons - with a horse! Horse tram to replace electric traction? Quite strange, though!
But this "genius of beauty" did not last long, electricity again wedged between man and horse. As you can see below, there were horse trams with "horns" raised to the wires, which became an intermediate moment of returning to electricity.
NFC module (?)
Also, looking at photographs of those times, you can pay attention to the pillars, painfully similar to those that are now distributing cellular communications throughout the civilized world. But judging by the happy look of passers-by, unencumbered by the facts about the most voracious man, the longest bull chain and the smallest country in the entire history of Africa, it is clear that there are no phones or smartphones in sight.
* Itpedia joke *
Also, as described above, there are many photographs in which a tram travels on rails without wires or horns.
Such wireless electricity existed throughout the Russian Empire and, apparently, not only there.
Well, what is the real reason for this "forgotten innovation"?
The secret was simple. Those pillars, through their medium, transmitted impulses of the desired shape to the antenna, and the tram had a mechanism to amplify them to the required energy value, sufficient to turn the wheels.
Why the horns have remained an appendage of the trolleybus and trams remains on the conscience of technicians and engineers.