Cantono-Frigerio system

Contact trolley of the Cantono Frigerio system

The Cantono-Frigerio system was an Italian pantograph system for trolleybuses and trolleybuses , in which a four-wheeled contact trolley was pressed by a fixed rod from below to the two contact wires , which ran at a distance of 50 centimeters from each other. It is often called the Filovia system in English publications , whereby the Italian word filovia (German: Drahtweg ) is generally used for any type of overhead contact line .

history

A trolleybus of the Società per la Trazione Elettrica during an evasive maneuver at the world exhibition in Milan in 1906

After Werner Siemens had already presented the first power collection system for road vehicles in 1882 with the Elektromote (based on a contact car running on the line), Max Schiemann followed in 1901 with his grinding shoes, which were pressed against the catenary by spring force. Two years later, engineers Eugenio Cantono from Rome and Carlo Frigerio from Milan combined the two principles. From this the name Cantono-Frigerio-System arose . Before that, however, a Schiemann trolleybus was already operating between May and November 1902 at the Turin trade fair , which is considered the first ever Italian trolleybus .

The Cantono-Frigerio system presented in 1903 differed from the pantographs known up to now in that it used a four-wheeled contact trolley that was pressed from below via a single rod to the overhead line. The possible deviation to the right or left was up to 3.5 meters. The vehicles usually had two engines with an output of eleven kilowatts each and could transport 20 to 24 passengers. They could cope with tighter turns and steeper gradients than trams and drove up to 30 km / h. The catenary wires were nine millimeters in diameter. There was only one overhead line per route, it was fed with 600 volts DC and used in both directions. The vehicles had a driver's cab like a tram. The routes in question were carried out by the companies Eugenio Cantono SA (from 1904 Cantono Avantreni SA and from 1906 Fabbrica Rotabili Avantreni Motori SA) and Società in Accomandita Ing.Carlo Frigerio & C. (from 1905 Società per la Trazione Elettrica ).

The Cantono-Frigerio system was able to establish itself in Italy, as early as 1916 there were several successfully operated routes with a total length of more than 80 kilometers. In some cities subsidies were even made available for the construction of the overhead lines.

route	Operating time	Remarks
Pescara –Castellammare Adriatico	1903 to 1904	The first trolleybuses based on the Cantono-Frigerio system started in 1903 from Pescara to Castellammare Adriatico, which is now part of Pescara. The two-engine vehicles were fed with 550 volts direct current and driven by a noisy chain drive on the solid rubber rear wheels. Their top speed was 25 kilometers per hour.
La Spezia - Porto Venere	1906 to 1909	The line was inaugurated on February 10, 1906 from La Spezia to Fezzano and initially offered 20 trips there and back per day. After initial praise, the capacity turned out to be insufficient and would have required the commissioning of larger vehicles. Operation was difficult: the bumpy roads and frequent derailments of the pantograph trolley limited the speed, and there were repeated problems with the brakes and the electrical insulation of the vehicles. These problems led the city of La Spezia to decide in 1908 to build a tram to Cadimare, which replaced the trolleybus from November 1909.
Milan	1906	During the Milan World's Fair from April 28 to November 11, 1906 , the Società per la Trazione Elettrica successfully demonstrated the advantages of the system on a circuit around the exhibition grounds in Piazza d'Armi.
Siena	1907 to 1920	On March 24, 1907, after a few test drives, trolleybuses were put into operation in Siena. The approximately seven kilometer long route connected the districts of Fontebecci and Valli with the city center (Piazza Indipendenza) and the train station. It was initially operated by the Società Imprese Elettriche Senesi (SIES), which was later renamed Società Anonima Filovie Senesi (SAFS). The steep and narrow streets with tight curves caused difficulties, so that the company was liquidated on April 13, 1920.
Ivrea - Cuorgnè	1908 to 1935	The route from Ivrea to Cuorgnè, built on the initiative of the surveyor Vallino, was opened on March 30, 1908. It was nicknamed Filovia del Poeta (Poet's Wire Path) because it passed the house of the poet Giuseppe Giacosa . In contrast to other systems of the pioneering days, it initially offered satisfactory operation. When traffic continued to increase from the end of the 1920s, it was replaced by buses.
Cuneo	1908 to 1968	Work on the trolleybus in Cuneo began in April 1908. In June 1908, the test drives began. The city's first trolleybus line, which connected the station with the New Church, went into operation on August 1, 1908 and officially opened on August 9, 1908. The six cars from the World Exhibition in Milan were used until 1926 and a catenary truck until 1920. After the line from the train station via Piazza Galimberti to Borgo Gesso was shut down at the beginning of the 1960s, the line from Piazza Torino via Piazza Galimberti and Corso Nice to San Rocco was shut down in 1968.
Argegno - San Fedele Intelvi	1909 to 1922	The Filovia Valle d'Intelvi from Argegno on Lake Como to San Fedele Intelvi was operated from July 4, 1909 until the end of 1922. She drove on a steep serpentine road with up to eleven or, according to other sources, even up to 13 percent gradient.
L'Aquila	1909 to 1924	The L'Aquila Città Filovia was from 1909 to 1924 in operation.
Alba - Barolo	1910 to 1919	The Alba – Barolo line was planned and built by the Società per la Trazione Elettrica from Milan and operated by the Società Filovia Albesi . It was put into operation on September 26, 1910 and shut down in 1919 due to serious technical problems.
Enego - Primolano	1915 to 1918	Most of the trolleybus lines were used not only for passenger transport but also for freight transport with trolley trucks. In contrast, the line from Enego to Primolano, which was put into operation in 1915, was built by the royal Italian army and was primarily used for freight transport, i.e. in particular for ammunition transport.
Edolo - Ponte di Legno	1915 to 1918	The route from Edolo to Ponte di Legno was built by the army and used for military purposes.
Marostica - Puffele	1916 to 1919	During the First World War, the Marostica – Puffele line was used by the military to transport goods and ammunition.
Breganze - Turcio	Around 1916	During the First World War, the route from Breganze to Turcio was primarily used for military purposes to transport ammunition.