Useful Electric Launches

An employment has been made in Norway of the electric launch that ia uure to be widely followed. The city of Bergen, which is the center oL the Norwegian land and sea commerce, ranges on two sides of a rrow harbor formlag an inlet and su: rounded by rapidly rising ground. Rapid transit from one side of the harbor to the other became imperative and a line of electric ferryboats has been established. As ths harbor is very narrow, only about 330 yards, it was found desirable to construct the boats so that they cTfuld operate without turning about to go from one station to the other. They were vmsequently made double-ended, with l-vo screws, one at each end, both connected directly to motor shaft. The motor weighs 660 pounds and is of Hjree-horse power capacity. Thirtywo cells of storage battery weighing ,5,280 pounds are placed in each boat. The speed of the boat is seven feet six inches per second - quite enough for threading safely the crowded shipping of the harbor. Each boat covers thirtyseven miles daily, and thu average number of passengers carried since the boats have been in service has been 1,800. The cost of the fleet of eight boats was $16,000, and of the charging station $12,800.