11.12.05

F I R S TP R E V301NEXTLAST

Cable Car Powerhouse, Mason Street
Since their invention in 1873 the San Francisco cable cars have been a tremendous success. The original cables were drawn by steam power. Today the huge engines and winding wheels that pull the cables are electrically-powered. The cables, set 27 inches below the street, have a tensile strength of 160,000 pounds per square inch, allowing them turn at right angles on large underground sheaths at a constant speed of nine and a half miles per hour. While the cable cars have no other way to move except to grip the running cable, each cable car is equipped with three different braking systems.
[ MAP E-14 ]


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