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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1904)
JQf i IE Jar I ESRY C. 8TRONO of Chicago H thinks that A. G. Bell has on Joyed long enough the honors end emoluments of the telephone invention and U suing for $50,000,- 00 damages for infringements upon his pat ents. Two yearn ago a special examiner was appointed by Judge Kohls.iat to take testi mony In the case, mid his report, recently filed. Is said to sustain the claim of Btrong. The report has not been made public. The defendants In the suit nre the Ameri can Hell Telephone company, the American Telephone and Telegraph oompnny, the Chicago Telephone company and the Cen tral I'nlon Telegraph enmpanjr. The basis for the suit Is an Invention to facilitate lung distance telephoning, for which Henry t Strong secured a patent In 1W5. Joined with him at that time were David A. Strong ami Henry 1. Caldwell, they having secured eleven-fifteenths of Ills rights by purchase. The patent which Is the basis for the suit was issued for a period of seventeen years and was, and Is yet, according to the original complaint, worth JlCO.or 0,000. Subsequently, the Atlantic & Western Tele phono company secured the rights of the Invention by purchase In 1K2, the con sideration being $5,000,000. Its claim Is set forth to the effect that It has been pre vented from "deriving therefrom, by rea son of the manufacture and sale of said device, the sum of $1,000,000 a month for fifteen years past, by reason of the in fringement of the patent by the defend ants." It Is charged In the petition that In these liftmen years the rival telephone companies, mentioned by title, have continued to trianuf icture and sell the Strong device, despite persistent protests from the At lantic company and demands for a settle ment. Great Aid to Telephones. With a view to making Improvements In the present telephone system and to test the Invntion of Prof. Mlchnl I. Pupin of Columbia, telephone companies with head quarters In New York city established lines In accordance with Prof. Pupln's system, and already many satisfactory results have been determined, lly placing coils wound on wire at regular Intervals In the circuit Prof. Pupin found the current was trans mitted without interference waves or loss of current. To apply this discovery practically the New York Telephone company has Installed an underground cable to Kingsbridge, N. Y.. and the New Jersey company Is ex perimenting with an underground line be tween New York and Elizabeth, and two lines on Long Island and the American Telephone and Telegraph company Is test ing an overhead Pupin line from Omaha, St. Paul and Boston. The first practical application was the laying of a cable to Klngsbrldge, which the New York Telephone company has Just completed at an expense of $.!00,000. Come wires In use now have satisfactorily accomplished the results expected. "The purpose of this Klngsbrldge cable," aid Chief Engineer J. J. Carty, "Is to nable us to carry a long distance wire like the Chicago wire Into the" city under ground. By the old system conversation over a long distance wire like that If carried underground for a distance of fif teen miles would be impossible. The final lest Is yet to be made, but so far the re sults have been satisfactory." Prof. Pupin expects his new system will tevolutionize the construction of telegraph tibles and make possible telephone com munication between Ntw York and I.on n. Bleetrle Roada as Freight Carriers. Electric traction -is becoming a recog Bzed factor in the transportation of freight for short distances. During the past few years this Industry has increased very rapidly and many rural communities throughout the country depend almost en tirely upon the electric railroads for the transportation of their products to nearby markets. The Importance of electric lines ns freight carriers must be considered, as yet to l.o very pllpht, but there are lmllvHu.il In stances of really remarkable development and several lines give the territory through which they operate service equivalent to that given by the steam railroads, carrying practically nil commodltie-t cither In cir load or less than carload lots. In many cases farming districts ndjicent to cities nre served by electric line.; garden truck, "milk and live stock nre carried to market In freight or express cars, while the fanner procures his supplies from the city in the same manner. The freight equipment of different roads, of course, varies greatly. Where the bu-1-ness Is small, a combination passenger and baggage car often meets the requirements, while there are many roadjt which are able to meet all demands for freight transporta tion with one or two box or Hat cars. There are Instances, however, where the freight equipment Is very large, reaching as high as 93 freight cars for a single road and including box, flat and combination cars. Freight rates vary greatly between dif ferent roads for like distances. When an electric lire parallels a steam road It gen erally bases its rates upon those of tl.o steam lines. The official clarsitlcition used by the steam roads In tfio territory east of Lake Michigan, Chicago and the Mis sissippi river and north of the Ohio and the Potomac rivers to the Atlantic seaboard, is used to some extent by electric line in this territory for the purpose of classify ing their freight. Printed tariffs embracing a great number and variety of commodities are Issued by a number of line.?. A line running out of Portland, Ore., aptly illustrates the development which is, at present possible In freight transporta tion by mesas of electric traction, and a brief history of Its growth, therefore, Is worth recording. This line has carried more or less merchandise since 1S92. The original service was for express packages only, but it has gradually been extended until today all classo of merchandise are carried, In cluding farm produce, lumber and logs In carload lots. The freight equipment con sists of six freight motors, ten Ikix cars, seventy-six fiat cars and four flfty-tlve foot combination passenger, milk and express cars, having capacities ranging from 30K) to 50,000 pounds, and all being equipped with patent couplers and airbrakes. Two trips dally are made over the line and spe cial trains are also operated as business demands. Two freight stations, located at Portland and Oregon City, have been es tablished. The company has entered Into an agree ment with the Southern Pacific."" and Oregon Railway and Navigation companies for the Interchange of freight traffic by which the cars of the above companies are loaded on this company's lines and delivered for shipment to points on the transcontinental lines or east thereof. It has also an agree ment hy which it handles the pouch mall for the postal authorities between Oregon City and Portland and Portland and Bering, beyond which point arrangements are now being made for a regular railroad mall service. While the development of freight trans portation by electric lines has been very rapid in the past few years there are many reasons to believe that an increased growth In the futuro is to be expected. Many roads which have not yet a freight service have Indicated their purpose of es tablishing one and a number which are carrying only a small amount of freight expect to Increase their tonnage by improv ing their freight carrying facilities. Elec tricity. J An K.lectrlral Marvel. The New York Times building, when fin ished, will be an electrical marvel. It will he a show place for electricians. It will combine a greater number and a greater variety of uses for electricity than uny other structure. Steam will Is? an unknown quantity In the building for the greater part of the year, as It will he used only for heating puriMisrs, and at a pressure of less than live pounds. The dust brush and the tra ditional broo.n of the office sweeper will l banished. New ideas new mi tie da will prevail. The Times has contracted with the New York Edison company for a six-year serv ice, upon the stipulation that there would be Independent connections with three sup ply stations of the Edison company. The outside electrical supply will furnish jmwer for 100 motors, rated at !KX horse power, light fur 4.(00 Incandescent lamps, fifteen are lamps, one searchlight, signs, bulletins, Cooper-1 lewltt lamiis and for many novelties, aggregating the use of cur rent amounting to more than 4U0.0U0 kilo watt hours per annum. Electrical novelties will Is- found In tin looked for places. The presses will ba equipped with Kohler system of control, which permits of a movement delicate enough to turn the printing cylinders one eighth of an Inch per second or at a speed of four revolutions a second. The automatic control and stoppage of machin ery extends through the presses, auto plates, house pumps, sewage pumps, air vacuum pumps and the air compressor pumps In order that current may not bo wasted. An Operation by Magnet. The study of a curious surgical opera tion at the St, Antolnr. hospital, Ixndon, haa been communicated to the Surgical society. The patient swallowed a packing nail, which was shown by an X-ray photo graph to have lodged, head downward, at the level of the seventh rib. A bron choscope, which consists of a tube, the Inner surface of which is highly polished to serve as a rellector, and an electric lamp arranged so us to throw a strong light on the tube, was passed into the bronchial tube and then withdrawn. Tills process was repeated for six days with larger und larger tubes, and then an eighth millimeter tube was Inserted to a depth of fifteen Inches. A magnet had been specially made to put Into the tube, but it was too short to fit und the cough ing of the patient caused a suspension of the operation. A second X-ray photograph ghowed that the nail had now slipped to the level of the eighth rib. The doctors, therefore, performed the operation of tem porary tracheotomy. A ten millimetre tube was Inserted to a depth of fourteen inches, and the operator then saw the nail. The magnet was Introduced and the null ad hered to It. The wholo operation lasted only live minutes and saved the patient's life. Multiple lull Train Control. Until now there have been In use two multiple unit systems of electric train con trol, first the Spraguc system exploited by the General Electric company, und second that of the Westlnghouse company. The former is entirely electrical, the latter is operated entirely by compressed air. To these has now been recently added the. Slemens-Sehuckert system from the well known foreign company of that name, und this has been hailed by those competent to judge as an important addition to the sci ence of electric traction. The new system was developed to meet and overcome the obstacles which its designers discerned in the other systems, that of the purely elec trical method of control being the difllculty of employing small motors fur reversal of direction with currents of NOO volts and over, the enormous dimensions and weight of the traction magnates, the rise of self Induction, violent sparking at the distribu tion line, etc. In the system of control by compressed sir objection was made to the large numb.T of parts, frequent refusals to operate, the uhsence of dependence fur power on the motor current, etc. The now s stern Is a mixed system, as the designers recognize the advantages gained by the control by compressed air. Compressed air has been adopted for the actual operation of the controller, the pneumatic valves being actuated by a low-voltage current. Two separate controllers, namely, a reversing and a spied controller, are under the con trol of the motoi man. The speed control! T has two main positions, one putting the motors in series, the other for pulling them In parallel. In order to insure the Immedi ate Interruption of the circuit In case Ilia train parts, the current actuating the valves Hows all the time while the train Is In motion. The Interruption of the current for any reason disconnects the motors from the circuit. The following considerations have pro vaile.l In the development of this system: First The number of parts must be very limited. Second The controllers must be of the or dinary type, which have stood practical trial. Third The speed controller must have two main positions "in series" for half speed; "In parallel." for full speed. It must le able to occupy Intermediate posi tions. Fourth Direct current Is to he employed, bo that the breaking of the circuit may bo effected by Interrupting the lino current. Fifth The management must not require any skill. A wrong manipulation must not entail any bad consequences. The apparatus, after having lieen tested experimentally, has Imen Installed on the underground rond In Berlin. A high de gree of perfection is claimed for It. ns it contains all the advantages of electrical transmission and retains at the same time nil those of compressed nlr. -Huston Tran script. On the Installment Plan "What's that .watch worth?" asked Mr. Klose, pointing to one In the show ease. "Ten dollars." replied the Jeweler. "I'll take It," said the customer, and after paying for It he went out. The next day he came around again. "This watch doesn't exactly suit rnt," he said. "What's that one worth?" point ing to another. "Fifteen dollars." "I'll take that Instead of this one, If yoo don't mind." "Certainly." A day or two later he came again. "How good a watch have you got for C25?" he Inquired. "Well. 2fi will get a pretty good time piece," said the Jeweler, handing one out. "Here's one with a gold filled case and full Jeweled. The movement is wurnuitcd." "I ll take It." He paid the difference, took the watch und went away. After a lapse of a few days he made his appearance once more. "Have you got a first -class watch with a solid gold case that you can sell for $Ti0?" he asked. "Yes; here It Is." "Well, 111 lake It," said Mr. Klose. "Here's the other watch and Jiu. That' the one I really wanted in the first place, but I hated to pay out all of that money at once." Youths' Companion.