Chapter XII
The Try-Out Day Arrives
It did not need Ned Newton's story of what he had overheard at the bankto prove that an attempt had been made to blow to pieces Tom Swift'selectric locomotive before even it had been tested.
An examination of the water-soaked package in the open yard of theshops of the Swift Construction Company, proved that there was enoughexplosive in the bomb to blow the shed itself to pieces. But thestopping of the clockwork attachment of course made the bomb harmless.
"The main thing to be explained," Tom said, when he and his father andNed discussed the particulars of the affair, "is not who did it, orwhat it was done for. Those are comparatively easy questions to answer."
"Yes," agreed Ned. "O'Malley did it, or caused it to be done; and itwas an attempt to balk Mr. Bartholomew and the H, & P. A. rather thana direct attack upon the Swift Construction Company."
"I am afraid, however," remarked Mr. Swift, "that Tom has aroused thepersonal antagonism of this spy from the West. We must not overlookthat."
"I don't," replied the young inventor. "O'Malley has it in for me. Nodoubt of that. But he could not be sure that I would be hurt by theexplosion he arranged for."
"True," said his father.
"The attempt was against my invention. And O'Malley was doubtless urgedto destroy the locomotive that I am building because my success willaid Mr. Bartholomew and his railroad."
"Quite agreed," said Ned. "But--"
"But the important question," interrupted Tom, "is this: How did thebomb get into the interior of the electric locomotive? That is thefirst and most important problem. Its having been done once warns usthat it can be done again until our system of guarding the works ischanged."
"We have five watchmen on the job at night, and the gates are neveropened in the daytime to anybody for any purpose without a pass,"declared Ned. "I don't see how that fellow got in here with the timebomb."
"Exactly. It shows that there is a fault in our system somewhere," saidTom grimly. "We cannot surround the place at night with an armed guard.It would cost too much. Even Koku cannot be everywhere. And I havereason to know that he was wandering about the stockade last night asusual."
"The fellow was pretty sharp to slip by," Ned observed.
"The stockade is no mean barrier, especially with the rows of barbedwire at the top," said Mr. Swift.
"Barbed wire! That's it!" exclaimed Tom. It was just here that Mr.Damon's idea for guarding his prize buff Orpingtons came into play inTom's scheme of things. "Barbed wire doesn't seem to keep out spies,"he added slowly. "But believe me, something else will!"
For Tom to think of a thing was to start action without delay.Immediately he called a gang from the shops and set them to workstringing copper wire along the top of the stockade.
He was sure that the man who had set the time bomb in place had gotinto the enclosure over the fence. If he tried the same trick again hewas very apt to have the surprise of his life!
Each night when the shops closed and the watchmen went on duty, acurrent of electricity was turned into those copper wires entwined withthe barbed wire entanglement at the top of the stockade that wouldcertainly double up any marauder who sought to get over the top.
However, no further attempt was made against Tom's peace of mind andagainst his invention during the immediate weeks that followed. Theyoung inventor was so closely engaged in his work that he scarcely leftthe house or the confines of the shops. Even Mary Nestor saw verylittle of him.
But Mary realized fully that at such a time as this Tom must give allhis thought and energy to the task in hand. She was proud of Tom'sability and took a deep interest in his inventions.
"I want to see the test when you try the locomotive, Tom," she toldhim, when she came to the shops the first time to look at the monsterlocomotive. "What a wonderful thing it is!"
"Its wonder is yet to be proved," rejoined the young inventor. "Ibelieve I've got the right idea; but nothing is sure as yet."
In addition to his mechanical contrivances inside the locomotive, Tomhad to arrange for an increased supply of electric power to drive thehuge machine around the track that was being built inside the stockade.
A regular station had to be built for receiving the electricity in a100,000-volt alternating current and delivering it to the locomotive ina 3,000-volt direct current. Therefore, this station had two functionsto perform--reducing the voltage and changing the current fromalternating to direct.
The reduction of the voltage was accomplished as follows: The100,000-volt alternating current was received through an oil switch andwas conveyed to a high-tension current distributor made up of threelines of copper tubing, thus forming the source of power for thisstation.
From the current distributor the current was conducted through otheroil switches to the transformers--entering at 100,000 volts andemerging at 2,300 volts. Then the current was conducted from thetransformers through switches to the motor-generator sets and becamethe power employed to operate them.
The motor generator consisted of one alternating current motor drivingtwo direct current generators. The motor Tom established in his stationwas of the 60-cycle synchronous type, which means that the currentchanges sixty times each second.
There were two sets, each generating a 1,500 or 2,000 volt directcurrent; and the two generators being permanently connected, delivereda combined direct current of 3,000 volts--as high a direct voltagecurrent, Tom knew, as had ever been adopted for railroad work. Thecurrent voltage for ordinary street railway work is 550 volts.
"I could run even this big machine," Tom explained to Ned Newton, "witha much lighter current. But out there on the Hendrickton & Pas Alosline the transforming stations deliver this high voltage to thelocomotives. I want to test mine under similar conditions."
"This is going to be an expensive test, Tom," said Ned, grumbling alittle. "The cost-sheets are running high."
"We are aiming at a big target," returned the inventor. "You've got tobait with something bigger than sprats to catch a whale, Ned."
"Humph! Suppose you don't catch the whale after all?"
"Don't lose hope," returned Tom, calmly. "I am going after this whaleright, believe me! This is one of the biggest contracts--if not thevery biggest--we ever tackled."
"It looks as if the expense account would run the highest," admittedthe financial manager.
"All right. Maybe that is so. But I'll spend the last cent I've got toperfect this patent. I am going to beat the Jandels if it is humanlypossible to do so."
"I can only hope you will, Tom. Why, this track and the overheadtrolley equipment is going to cost a small fortune. I had no idea whenyou signed that contract with Mr. Bartholomew that so much money wouldhave to be spent in merely the experimental stage of the thing."
Ned Newton possessed traits of caution that could not be gainsaid. Thatwas one thing that made him such a successful financial manager for theSwift Company. He watched expenditures as closely now as he had whenthe business was upon a much more limited footing.
The rails laid along the inside of the stockade made a two-mile track,as well ballasted as any regular railroad right of way. In addition theoverhead equipment was costly.
To eliminate any possibility of the trolley wire breaking, a strongsteel cable, called a catenary, was slung just above the trolley wire.To this catenary the trolley wire was suspended by hangers at shortintervals.
These cables were strung from brackets so that a single row of polescould be used, save at the curves, at which cross-span construction wasused. The trolley wire itself was of the 4/0 size, and was the largestdiameter copper wire ever employed for railroad purposes.
Several weeks had now passed since the great locomotive had beenassembled in the erection shed and the cab of the locomotive completed.It really was a monster machine, and any stranger coming into the placeand seeing it for the first time must have marveled at the grim powersuggested by the mere bulk of the structure.
When the day of the first test arrived Tom allowed only his mostintimate friends to be present. Mary Nestor accompanied Mr. Swift intothe shops at the time appointed, and she was as excited over theoutcome of the test as Tom himself.
Ned Newton and the mechanical force of the shops knocked off work tobecome spectators at the exhibition. The only other outsider was Mr.Damon.
"Bless my alternating current!" cried the eccentric gentleman. "Iwould not miss this for the world. If you tried to shut me out, Tom,I'd climb over the stockade to get in."
"You'd better not," Tom told him, dryly. "If you tried that you'd get aworse shock than any chicken thief will get that tries to steal yourbuff Orpingtons."