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The Composite is a New York City Subway car class built in 1903 and in 1904 for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and its successor, the NYC Board of Transportation. The Composite derived its name from its build as a "protected wooden car." The car frame was made of steel, while the car body itself was made from wood encased in a layer of copper sheathing. The copper skin was intended to protect the car in the event of a fire in the subway. Therefore the result was a body composed of several materials (as in a Composite material) and became known simply as a "Composite." Because of the Composites' copper sheathing, IRT crews and shop personnel coined the nickname for the cars: Copper Sides.〔 ==Background== The first IRT subway in New York would prove to be the first attempt at an underground heavy rail subway. For example, the underground portion of Boston's Green Line, which opened in 1897, had been light rail. Therefore the IRT and its chief engineer George Gibbs felt compelled to develop a subway car that would be stronger and safer than any previously designed railway cars. This inevitably led them to the conclusion that it would be best to design an all steel car to run in the new tunnels.〔 However, car manufacturers of the time were unwilling to undertake such an experimental proposition. Steel was deemed too heavy for any practical applications. Conventional wisdom of the day (since proven to be false) held that an all steel car would vibrate itself to pieces, claiming wood was "necessary" for its damping effects on the car's vibration. It was also widely believed that a steel car would be very loud, and poorly insulated from temperature extremes such as heat and cold. With a large backlog of orders for wooden cars, manufacturers had no incentive to explore the new technology as there was still plenty of demand for wooden railcars. The IRT knew that the October 27, 1904 opening of the new subway route was fast approaching, and that rolling stock had to be designed and built soon or the line would not be ready. With time running short to order rolling stock, a wood-based alternative had been proposed - a protected wooden car to be known as a Composite.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Composite (New York City Subway car)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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