THE ELECTRIC CARRIAGE.

The Evening Dispatch
December 24, 1894

Kansas City, Dec. 23—A horseless carriage went swimming along the smooth asphalt of Fourteenth street, in the vicinity of Cherry street, today, fulfilling Mother Shipton's prophecy that "carriages without horses shall run," and terrifying two negroes, who saw sparks and apparently sulphurous flames issuing from under it. The vehicle was an electaic carriage, of Kansas City invention and manufacture, and is the only one in the United States, although dissimilar ones are used in the old world. The invention is Dr. H.C. Baker's, and was patented by himself and J.H. Elberg, in whose carriage shop in this city the carriage was made. On the trial trip last night the machine worked perfectly. A speed of eleven miles an hour was obtained.

The carriage is about the size of an ordinary one. One seat holding three persons faces the front, and another one that will accommodate a similar number faces to the rear. A storage battery composed of five series of five cells each furnishes a current of 67 1/2 ohms, and the cells are arranged in three tiers beneath the seats. The wheels are of wood. with India rubber cushions on the tires. The rear wheels which are three feet two inches in diameter, have on their inner sides a cast iron flange twenty-six inches in diameter and five inches wide. Motion from the dynamo, which is over the hind axle, is communicated to the flange by a rawhide friction pulley, revolving from 600 to 1000 times a minute, and is capable of being elevated or depressed at will by the driver. The steering is done by a toothed segment and pinion attached to the axle of the fore wheels and handled by a steering post, manipulated by the driver with his hands. The carriage can make quick, short turns. The storage batteries will run the machine about seven or eight hours. The Kansas City invention weighs about 2000 pounds, and is quicker and lighter than the European coaches.