Abstract :
One of the latest uses for that versatile device, the grid controlled mercury arc rectifier, is to replace the commutator of an electric railway motor that will operate on either alternating or direct current. However, the rectifier eliminates not only the commutators in a locomotive equipped with these motors, but also all expensive control, switching, and reversing equipment. Experiments have shown so much promise that a 1,000-hp locomotive of this type now is being built in Switzerland.
