Editing Leonardo Torres Quevedo (section)

===Cableways===
[[File:Grupo_de_personas_en_el_Teleférico_de_Ulia_(1_de_2)_-_Fondo_Car-Kutxa_Fototeka.jpg|thumb|right|Cable car in [[Mount Ulia]] (1916), opened in 1907.]]

Torres' experimentation in the field of cableways and [[Aerial tramway|cable cars]] began very early during his residence in the town of his birth, [[Molledo]]. There, in 1885, he constructed the first cableway to span a depression of some {{convert|40|m|ft}}. The cableway was about {{convert|200|m|ft}} across and transported a single person who was sitting in a chair hanging from a cable and had another traction cable. The engine used to move the human load was a pair of cows. Later, in 1887, he would build a cableway over the Río León in {{Interlanguage link|Valle de Iguña|es|Valle_de_Iguña}}, much bigger and motorized, but which was intended only for transporting materials.<ref name="Luis Montalvo Guitart">{{cite web|title=La ciencia olvidada. Leonardo Torres Quevedo (1). El invento del transbordador|date=2024-05-01|work=La Plazuela|author=Luis Montalvo Guitart|url=https://laplazuela.net/la-ciencia-olvidada/14818-leonardo-torres-quevedo-1-el-invento-del-transbordador|access-date=24 August 2024}}</ref><ref name="-.bio-.-itefi.-."/>

These experiments were the basis for his first patent application on 17 September 1887, in Spain, "{{lang|es|Un sistema de camino funicular aéreo de alambres múltiples}}" ("A multi-wire suspended aerial system"),<ref name="PatentesLTQ,">''[https://books.google.com/books?id=hz6IUtukL48C&pg=PA5 Un sistema de camino funicular aéreo de alambres múltiples],'' ''Patentes de invención de Don Leonardo Torres Quevedo'', pp. 5–12, España Registro de la Propiedad Industrial, 1988. ISBN 84-86857-50-3</ref> for a cable car with which he obtained a level of safety suitable for the transport of people, not only cargo. The patent was extended to other countries: United States, [[Austria]], Germany, France, United Kingdom, and Italy.<ref name="Patentes.LTQ">''[https://books.google.com/books?id=hz6IUtukL48C&pg=PA13 Reproducciones de títulos extranjeros correspondientes a la patente española n.º 7348]'', ''Patentes de invención de Don Leonardo Torres Quevedo'', pp. 13–15, España Registro de la Propiedad Industrial, 1988. ISBN 84-86857-50-3</ref> His cable car used a novel multi-cable support system, in which one end of a cable is anchored to fixed [[counterweight]]s and the other (through a system of [[pulley]]s) to mobile counterweights. With this system the axial force of the cables via is constant and equal to the weight of the counterweight, regardless of the load in the shuttle. What will vary with this load is the deflection of the via cables, which will increase by raising the counterweight. Thus, the safety coefficient of these cables is perfectly known, and is independent of the shuttle load. The resulting design is very strong and remains safe in case of a support cable failure.<ref name=ROP1>{{cite journal|author=[[Leonardo Fernández Troyano|Fernández Troyano, Leonardo]] |date=2014|number=161 (3553)|pages=27|periodical=[[Revista de Obras Públicas]] |title=Los transbordadores y la barquilla de Leonardo Torres Quevedo|url=http://www.cfcsl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2014_abril_3553_05_LEO_Torres_Quevedo_ROP.pdf}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>Rafael López-García. Marco Ceccarelli. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dBvHEAAAQBAJ&dq=leonardo+torres+quevedo+innovator&pg=PA322 Distinguished Figures in Mechanical Engineering in Spain and Ibero-America.], Springer Nature, p. 322, 2023. ISBN 978-3031310751</ref>

In April 1889 Torres presented his cableway in Switzerland,<ref>Torres, Leonardo, "[https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=CH&NR=589A&KC=C&FT=D&ND=&date=18800518&DB=&locale= CH589 (A) – 1889-04-17 Nouveau système de chemin funiculaire aérien, à fils multiples.]", ''Espacenet'', 17 April 1889.</ref> a place very interested in this means of transport due to its geography, between Pilatus-Kulm and Pilatus-Klimsenhorn ([[Pilatus (mountain)|Mount Pilatus]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/FXKM4QHXPX7P32JCNVJWQYANBMCCIMAL|title=Der Spanier Leonardo Torres plant 1889 eine 'schwebende Drahtseilbahn' zwischen Pilatus-Kulm nach Pilatus-Klimsenhorn|publisher=Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek. Kultur und Wissen Online|access-date=24 August 2024}}</ref> It was an aerial funicular with a length of 2&nbsp;km and a gradient of 300 m. In 1890 he traveled to that country to convince different authorities of its construction. He failed to convince the Swiss, who did not grant any reliability to the work of a Spanish engineer, and even the newspapers ''[[Nebelspalter]]'' and ''Eulm Spiegel'' published articles and satirical drawings about the project. This disappointment, known as the "Swiss failure", led him to focus on other fields for several years.<ref name="Luis Montalvo Guitart"/> On 30 September 1907, Torres put into operation a pioneer cableway suitable for public transportation, the {{Interlanguage link|Mount Ulia aerial ropeway|es|Tranvía_aéreo_del_Monte_Ulía}} in [[San Sebastián]].<ref name="Hoffmann2006">Klaus Hoffmann. ''[https://www.mas.bg.ac.rs/_media/istrazivanje/fme/vol34/4/5._hoffmann_205-212.pdf Recent Developments in Cable-Drawn Urban Transport Systems],''(pdf) p. 206, vol. 34, No. 4, 2006, FME Transactions.</ref> The journey was 280 meters, with a drop of 28 meters, lasted for just over three minutes, and the gondola had the capacity to board up to 18 people on each trip.<ref>{{cite web|title=El transbordador aéreo de Ulia, pionero en el mundo|publisher=noticias de Gipuzkoa|date=2022-08-02 |url=https://www.noticiasdegipuzkoa.eus/donostia/2022/08/02/transbordador-parque-ulia-donostia-5876533.html|access-date=2 August 2024}}</ref> The execution of the project was the responsibility of the [[Society of Engineering Studies and Works]] of Bilbao, which was established in 1906 by Valentín Gorbeña Ayarragaray, one of his closest friends, with the sole purpose of developing or marketing Torres' patents.<ref>{{cite web|title=La ciencia olvidada. Leonardo Torres Quevedo (2). El Transbordador del Niágara|date=2024-06-02|work=La Plazuela|author=Luis Montalvo Guitart|url=https://laplazuela.net/index.php/la-ciencia-olvidada/14870-leonardo-torres-quevedo-2-el-transbordador-del-niagara|access-date=24 August 2024}}</ref> The Ulia cable car transported passengers until its closure in 1917.<ref>{{cite web|title=De Ulia a San Pedro o un Delicioso Viaje en el Tiempo|date=2015-11-14|work=Kulturaldia|author=Ruth Pérez de Anucita|url=http://www.kulturaldia.com/denborapasa/ulia-san-pedro-un-delicioso-viaje-en-el-tiempo/|access-date=28 September 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Niagara Falls Whirlpool Aero Car.jpg|left|thumb|[[Whirlpool Aero Car]] over the [[Niagara River]] in Ontario, Canada.]]

The successful result of this type of cable car gave him the opportunity to design the [[Spanish Aerocar]] based on [[J. Enoch Thompson]]'s idea at [[Niagara Falls]] in Canada.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/niagara-falls-spanish-aerocar | title=Niagara Falls Whirlpool Aero Car. Niagara Falls, Ontario. Soaring over the Niagara Whirlpool since 1916. |publisher=[[Atlas Obscura]] |access-date=6 September 2024}}</ref> The cableway of 550 meters in length is an aerial cable car that spans the [[Niagara Whirlpool|whirlpool]] in the [[Niagara Gorge]] on the Canadian side. It travels at about {{convert|7.2|km/h|mph}}. The load per cable via is {{convert|9|t|ST}}, with a [[factor of safety|safety coefficient]] for the cables of 4.6.<ref name=ROP1-.>{{cite journal|author=[[Leonardo Fernández Troyano|Fernández Troyano, Leonardo]] |date=2014|number=161 (3553)|pages=28|periodical=[[Revista de Obras Públicas]] |title=Los transbordadores y la barquilla de Leonardo Torres Quevedo|url=http://www.cfcsl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2014_abril_3553_05_LEO_Torres_Quevedo_ROP.pdf}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> and carries 35 standing passengers over a one-kilometre trip.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.niagaraparks.com/niagara-falls-attractions/whirlpool-aero-car.html|title = Niagara's Fury}}</ref> It was constructed between 1914 and 1916. For its construction and assembly, the [[Niagara Spanish Aerocar Company Limited]] was set up from the Society of Engineering Studies and Works, with a capital of $110,000 (roughly ${{Inflation|index=US|value=0.110|start_year=1914|r=1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}),<ref>{{Cite web|title=CPI Inflation Calculator|url=https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm|access-date=15 October 2020|website=www.bls.gov|language=en-us}}</ref> and a planned concession of 20 years. The construction was directed by Torres' son, [[Gonzalo Torres Polanco]].<ref>Rafael López-García. Marco Ceccarelli. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dBvHEAAAQBAJ&dq=leonardo+torres+quevedo+innovator&pg=PA324 Distinguished Figures in Mechanical Engineering in Spain and Ibero-America.], Springer Nature, p. 324, 2023. ISBN 978-3031310751</ref> It completed its first tests on 15 February in 1916 and was officially inaugurated on 8 August, opening to the public the following day. The cableway, with small modifications, runs to this day with no accidents worthy of mention, constituting a popular tourist and cinematic attraction.<ref name="Ref_a">[http://www.niagaraparks.com/nfgg/aerocar.php Whirlpool Aero Car – Niagara Parks, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada]</ref>

The Aero Car is believed to be the sole remaining example of Torres' design for an aerial ferry. Although constructed and operated in Canada, it was a Spanish project from beginning to end: designed by a Spaniard and constructed by a Spanish company with Spanish capital. In 1991, the [[Niagara Parks Commission]] received the {{Interlanguage link|Leonardo Torres Quevedo Award|es|Premio_Nacional_de_Investigación_Leonardo_Torres_Quevedo}} on the 75th anniversary of the Aero Car, in recognition of its commitment to preserving Torres' design. A plaque, mounted on a boulder in front of Aero Car Gift Shop recalls this fact: ''International Historic Civil Engineering Site. The  Niagara Spanish Aerocar. A tribute to the distinguished Spanish Engineer who designed the Niagara Spanish Aerocar. This was only one of his many outstanding contributions to the engineering profession. Engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo (1852–1936). Constructed 1914–1916. CSCE. The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. 2010. Asociación de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos de España. Spanish aerial ferry of the Niagara''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://legacy.csce.ca/en/historic-site/the-whirlpool-spanish-aero-car/ | title=The Whirlpool (Spanish) Aero Car|publisher=Canadian Society for Civil Engineering |access-date=31 July 2024}}</ref>