[f. as TELPHER + -AGE.] Transport effected automatically by the aid of electricity; spec. a system adapted to the conveyance of minerals and other goods in vessels suspended from a cable, and moved by means of an electric motor supplied with current from an adjacent conductor. Also attrib.
1833. Engineering, 23 Nov., 481/2. The transmission of vehicles to a distance by electricity, independently of any control exercised from the vehicle, is called ‘Telpherage’ by Professor Fleming Jenkin.
1884. F. Jenkin, in Jrnl. Soc. Arts, XXXII. 648/2. The word [telpherage] is intended to designate all modes of transport effected automatically with the aid of electricity. According to strict rules of derivation, the word would be ‘telephorage’; but in order to avoid confusion with ‘telephone’ … I have ventured … to substitute … ‘telpher’ for ‘telephore.’
1888. W. H. Preece, in Times, 7 Sept., 5/3. Goods, minerals, and fuel can be transmitted by telpherage.
