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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1904)
KleefrlrU? nm nn lllanilnant. r BjBk I'UIMIl 1 V t. IH'H'III' v " I of Kas as mill thi leading illuml- I nnt. lint while this 1m nrolmhlv lrui In Kurox In tho lnlted States the scepter of light lias definitely passed to electricity. In .sum marizing the statistics compiled by the cen sus ofllce the Klectrteal Wor'd unl Kn glneer thows that while gas had nearly seventy-live years' start over Its competitor It now appears to be. decidedly In second place. Yet there Is no denying the fact that the Introduction of the brilliant elec tric light has stimulated the use of gas. There are now cImsc upon 4,000 electric light central stations In America, but by the census of 1W0O there were then only 877 gua plants, and the number was not grow ing perceptibly. The gas plants were earn ing an Income of $75,000,000. Last year the central stations earned $.v5,000,ooo. The cost of construction and equipment of both was over $.".00,000,000. Gas emp:oyed 22,4(10 men and electric light 23,300. But this Is only halt the story. It is es timated that there are over 50,000 Isolated electric light plants in this country, and that they represent us many lumiw as do the central stations. New York City has 1,000 of them, and some, like that in the Waldorf-Astoria, would run many an am bitious western city. Hence the figures ti gainst gas are doubled in most respects. The 20,000,000 Incundescent lamps burning tilghtly become 40,0uo,0ii0. The 400,000 arc lamps SheMey's "Insistent sisters of the day" become 800,000. Were it not for the universal use of the gas stove and the prevalence of the gas engine, one marvels what would have become of the illuminant Of our fathers. Such Is the r-re a which we live toJay that while millions of people in this coun try have not yet got up to the stage of civilization" represented by the use of gns, but when they encounter it casually employ it suicidally, other mll'ions have outgrown and discarded it, and will have none of it even for a curling iron or a chafing dish, let alone for lighting. To put it briefly, the use of electricity for lighting In New York state alone has Increased over 2,000 pe pent In ten years, and the use of elec tricity for power, also from central sta tions, has increased In the decade nearly 1,200 per cent. And yet electricians ure In clined to think they have only just started Wireless Telegraphy. Wireless telegraphy Is rapidly coming Into commercial utility in Germany and large numbers of "spark messages," as uueh telegrams ure called, are transmitted daily. There Is a service In operation between Denmark and Prussia, while two German steamers running between Kiel and Kor aoer are equipped with Instruments, and maintain continuous communication with both German and Danish land stations. The system employed is the Hlaby-Areo. 1'rivato messages are accepted at the two offices at liulk, near Kiel, and on the Isle of Fvh tnarn. A fee of 17 cents is charged for very message transmitted from one station to the other, irrespective of the number of words it contains, and it is thence dis patched to any part of Germany or Den mark aJ, a cent a word. Street Car Croniug Signal. Charles L. Cole, consul general at Dres den, Germany, writes to the State depart ment: "I notice the trial of a new safety device at street car crossings In this city, which may be described as follows: A box two feet long and one foot wide is sus pended from the wires at tho center of the crossing, and at a certain distance the ap proaching car automatically turns on the electricity and from the opposite sides of the bo is shown in red letters the word 'halt,' to wnrn the car coming at right angles ns well as teamsters nnd pedi-stil;n a, When the car reaches the center of tho crossing the light Is extinguished. Watch men ure placed at all crossings In this city where cars meet, but I am told this device Is being tested witli a view of avoiding the expense." Klectrlclty lit the World" l''nlr. According to advance notices of the St. Louis fair, electricity und eltctrical ma chinery will be conspicuous features of the exposition. Klectrteal energy will be Its life and light. The electricity Is built on a scale of unusual magnificence. Kntcr'ng the palace, what will the World's fair vis itor see? So many objects possessing both a technical and popular interest that the number and their various nature defy ade quate description. Dynamos, generator?", engines, converters, battel lis, etc., ad in finitum! Hut the one special department of all the others will be that exhibiting ovular demonstrations of famous processes or fleet rlcal phenomenu. The wonderful invention in use at Niag ara Falls for the manufacture of nitregen from the atmosphere will be one of the particular attractions a device that .'a purely American and which exists only at the one plant In New York. Another display will show furnues through which are Bent currents of l.'OO horse-power strength, producing a tremen dous pressure of heat, and by which proc ss carbonundra crystals, second only to dia monds In hardness, are manufactuted. From this material almost all of the sj called emery wheels are now made. This year, 1904. is the twenty-flf.h anni versary of the perfection of the electiii: lamp by Edison. Kdbon compart al over the United States will show on' the electricity building a complete historical exhibit, picturing the evolution of elec trical apparatus of all description, tr m dynamos and lights down to telephone and telegraph instruments. That all the Im provements may the better be demon strated the actual apparatus In actual cper ation will be exhibited. The historical display will be divided lnt i five chiHses, ircludlng Instruments contem porary with 1S70, 1S80, 1S0, 1!M)J and 11101, re spectively. By use of delicate apparatus d sinned for the purpose. Director Golrlborough pro poses to show the public the efft ct which follows the breaking of an electric arc un der high pressure, tray 60,0o0 volts. Tho effect will be that of see'n'f a flash of lightning nt close range. Kvery pjs senger upon an electric car at on; lime or another has witnessed the switch breaker over the front platform automatically shut off the current when It was too quickly applied by the motorman. The blind ng flash accompanying the sudden ac.lm of this safety device Is remembered. Conceive of this sudden blaze of fame multiplied enormously into a dazzling streak sixty feet long and an idea Is ob tained of what results from the sudden breaking of a C0,000-volt current. Have you ever talked along a beam of light? Very probably you have talked Into a telephone, not once, but many hundreds of times, and you know that the sound waves delicately vibrate upon a thin plate, which in turn ' translates the vibrations Into a Varying electric current that is transmitted to Its destination along a wire. But unless you are one among a very few you have never substituted for the wire a beam of light, and thus carried on a conversation. A German scientist has reported that he was able to talk over a distance of four teen miles by light rays. It is proposed to converse in this manrcr hrough at least a mile of space at the fair. Just where the apparatus will be placed Is not decided, but one station will probably Im In one of the turrets or upon the roof of the electric ity building. The national bureau of standards at Washington maintains the most complete nnd valuable eleetrtc listing apparatus In the I'nited States. These will be brought to St. Inils bodily and be shown in use at the electricity building. The total value of tho Instruments amounts very nearly to J100.UX). Home of them are of the most delicate construction and they ure used for such purposes as determining the electrical properties of va rious metals and substances, or for estab lishing the conductivity of a given ma terial. The electricity building at night, exter nally, will be a sight to remember long. Decorated with 2!".,(Ki0 electrical lamps, It will bu one blaze of radiance. Blcel Cars for Neve York Sabwny. Orders for 200 ull-stecl cars for the rapid transit subway in New York have been placed Vy the lnterborough company with the American Car and Foundry company, and the cars will be delivered early In Uu spring for use ns soon us the roud Is ready for operation. They will be the first all steel cars ever placed on a railroad. When the subway starts In active operation there win be BOO earn put on. if the ull-attel curs prove successful they will gradually replace the other. George Glbbs, consulting en gineer of the lnterborough company ami also of tho Pennsylvania compnny, wi o I the Inventor of the all-steel car. said: "It seemed to me eminently deferable that the subway system of New York shnu'd be lbs first to undertake the development of an all-steel ear. Kxpense was not considered In the matter. The object of the directors and Mr. Belmont, the president, was to adopt the tvst car possible and to show a progressive spirit In attempting to make safety ot tunnel operation certain for i ll time to ?o:iv. 1 was fortunate In obtaining the co-opcrailon of A J. Cnssalt of the T'ennsj 1 ania sjstem, who placed nt our disposal the designing and manufacturing facilitii h of his company. 1 think it is dun to the lnterborough company that the -public should glv.- us credit for having pro ceeded with diligence In developing an ab solutely Im onibustihlo car In advance of practice anywhere else In the world." Tho length of the new cars ovir the piriforms is fifty-one feet two Inches nnd over the body corner posts forty-two ftet one-half Inch. The height from the top of the rail to the top of the roof Is twelve feet. The extreme width of the cars is nine fiet. Mr. Glbbs explained farther that there wmi'd be no dai ger of the passengers receiving a shock from escaping electricity In case of a "short circuit" or similar nccldent, and that ejcnplng electricity. Insteady of going Into the frame steel work of the car, caus ing shock, will find Its way back to the ground and all the fuses nnd circuit break ers will be opened, making the section of the third rail "dead," thus preventing elec tricity from continuing to escape through the body of tho car. The Interior of the cars will have an aluminum finish, and in Interior appearance the steel cars will be somewhat like the present elevated cars. The seat frames will be of slerl. Railroad safety lelee. We hHVP frequently referred In these col umns to devices that have lien brought out to prevent railway arcldents, more especially on roads making use of the third rail. A resident of Rutland, VI., has re cently patented a block signaling device which he believes will make Impossible such disasters as occurred In the Park avenue tunnel in this city. In fact, the Inventor declares that his system will practically eliminate collisions of any kind on any road. From this it will be seen that the gentleman Is nothing if not op timistic. The invention provides for alt eleetilfi block system by which it Is Impossible for more than one train to be upon a slngtci block at the same lime. This Is accom plished by setting track signals and Hash ing danger ll;:hts in the face of the loco motive engineer. 1'nllke several such schemes, the current Is not obtained from n storage battery. Instead the power comes from track circuits placed between the rails. When an engine enters a block a :hoe underneath strikes the contact rail In which the power I'es. This completes two circuits, nnd Instantly sets electric- light signals wherever placed. The current passes to lumps In the cab. Hashing a red light In the face of the driver and warning him of danger. Ivaeh bloc k Is cunt rolled by the one preceding, so it Is Impossible, for one train that Is following another to come closer than the distance of one block without tho engineer receiving warning sig nals. One is a semaphore at the side of tho track, nnd the oilier Is In the cab In front of his face. The warnings ure the same, whether Ihe train Is moving backward or m forward. An extra precaution Is a pilot lamp, which Indicates whether the system I In perfect operation. If this lamp burns, then the cur rent is on; If It goes out, It shows that there la something wrong with the current. A dally paper, commenting on the sys tem, states that one of the. great advan tages is that the engine driver has no levers lo work, no mechanism to operate, and, further, does not have to depend on inuu for his warnings, lie simply has to keep his eyes open. Hut here would seem to be Ihe wesk point. , An engine driver does not always keep his eyes open. Another Invention which automatically applies the brakes In case of danger, whether the engineer Is awake or asleep, would seem lo be tho licit r.-Klcctrlcity (New York. l'.leetrle I'lpe ThmvlnK. The Street and Water iHiard of Newark, N. J., bus adopted the electric method of thawing out frozen water pipes In housca und under 111" pavements, und It Is said. to bo the llrst time the method has been ir e I In fhe east. It originated at Madison, Wis., und Is In use in fonio other western cities. Wire leads are run from the soppy ca bles, carrying iir.oiit S.oeo volls for 1 clrio lighting. The. leads are carried to a trans former, which reduces the vollage to 12, and from the transformer other leads pass to u water rheostut to control the current. The transformer nnd rheostat ure upon a wagon und move from place to place. When one service pipe -Is to be thawed out n, wire Is uttached to a faucet in the kitchen or laundry and the other Is fastened to a lira plug in the street. In live minutes the ice 111 the pipe is thawed out to the main and steaming water, runs from the faucet. When two houies which are In trouble are close together, one wire Is attached to the faucet in Ihe Hrst houxo and the other to that in thu next. The frost has gone so deep in'o the ground that there Is trouble all over tho city, and the authorities can e'ear twenty or thirty pipes a day by this novel me. hoi. It is done gratis where the pipes have been laid from the mains to the Uus by the city, which is the case with all that have lieen laid In the last ten years. Otherwise .the cost Is $5 or $10. By the old mean of digging up the street It would cost from $25 to $f0. i Japanese Chrysanthemums. The Japanese cultivate chrysanthemums In 2t;9 varieties of ccdors. Of these eighty seven are while, sixty-three yellow, thirty two purple, I hiily-one pink, thirty real, twelve russet und fourteen mixed hues.