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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1902)
V- THE DAILY NEBRASKAN. Houston Eloctrlc Company ns engineer and manager of the St. Louis office of that company. Two years later ho wns made consulting engineer of the Chi cago office, and retained this position after tho consolidation of tho Thomson-Houston and Edison General com panies Into the General Eloctrlc Com pany. While hero Mr. Arnold did much important work, and nmong oth er things dofllgned and built tho power plant at Llttlo Rock, Ark., which was one of tho most advanced of Its time. descriptions of It having heon pub- hfi waB thp recipient of many courto llshed In almost all civilized countries. ( fiiPH nml mnrH nf respect from his Mis last worn witn tms company was as consulting engineer and dcalgnor of tho Intramural railway plnnt at tho World's Columbian exposition. Slnco 1893 Mr. Arnold has main talned an Independent popltlon ns r consulting onglneer. having built many lnrgo properties throughout f United Stntefl and Mexico, and his ln- come has been such that he has been J anlo to allv himself In a financial wnv with a number of kindred Interests : Ho is president and technical director nR K(1nrntlnn. a member of the board of tho Arnold Electric Power Statin- , of goVPrnorH nf (hp Chicago Automo Companv, which hns been especlallv , ,,,lo Cuh nml ,q R mPmnpr of tl, successful In designing and construct- Transportation Club of New York. Ing largo electric railway and power In mfi Mr Arnold was hannll plants throughout tho country under ( nmrr,P(1 to Mlss stplln r?prrv 0f Roni Mr. Arnold's patents. He Is also pros ' InR Michigan. They have bee" Ident of tho Kenosha (Wisconsin hlpq,Pfl w!th thrPP children Maude Street Rnllway Company, vlco-prosl- TjllHllp nRPr1 fnrtPPn years; Stanley dont of tho Kentucky Western Rail-i T,prrv aRP(1 twPlvn yPars nml Robert road Company, and has acted ns enn- j Melville, now almost a year and a half suiting electrical engineer for the Chi- i of ng0 cago board of trade, the Chicngo. Rur llngton & Qulncy rnilroad, the Chicago & Great Western and several other steam railroads. Mr. Arnold was among the first to advocato nnd manufacture the storage battery as an auxiliary on a large scale commercially He nlso was a plo neer advocate of the direct connected nr' indents hnve specialized In elec olectrlc generating unit nnd Invented r1rnl engineering in the University of t rwoTvomn ita 1 1 ml t n t Innq n nvstnm Nebraska. This does not include the of power station construction which benrs his name The "Arnold" mag- ' notlc clutch came ns a further develop ' mont along this lino, and has been made In sizes up to 3,000 horse power. All tho above Ideas have been wldelv and geenrally adopted, although at the outset there was much opposition to be overcome. Another of Mr. Arnold's notable Innovations was his lntroduc tlon of tho sub-station rotary-converter storago battery Bystem for lntorurban eloctrlc railways. He recommended ' namelv. Mr. James Warren McCrosky. the plan to tho Chicago & Milwaukee Mr. McCrosky has devoted his atten Electrlc Railway Company, and ln or- ' tlon to tho development of a number of der to demonstrate tho merits of the , largo electrical power transmission syBtom and OVercomo tno onjecuoiis raised against It he took tho contract for building and equipping tho entire road on tho lines he had laid down ns advising engineer, guaranteeing the efficiency and operation of tho com pleted system. Tho system was, a" had held, a great improvement over any then In voguo, nnd It has slnco been generally adopted by lntorurban lines. High-speed eloctrlc railways are now occupying Mr. Arnold's at tention, and ho seems destined to add to his reputation with new develop ments. Mr. Arnold haB been ln demand as a special lecturer on electrical onglneer- Ing topics at technical colleges, having lectured before the engineering stu- dents of the University of Michigan, tne university of Illlnlls, Purduo Unl- vorslty, and tho University of Nobras- ka whore he formorjy attended as a student and where ho received tho do B.c u. .i. xur u course oi um mo- lowing year. This gentleman is at ture8reHvered-ln-189'T7-oirElcctrtcr)rPseilt wlth the Honolulu Rapid Tran- Powor Station Design." Theso lee tures are being published ln book form, and are considered a valuable extonslvo electric railway and light contribution to modern engineering I ,ng experience In the States. literature. For a personal exhibit at tho TranB-MIsslaslppl Exposition ln 1898 at Omaha,' Mr. Arnold was award- ed n gold modnl. Ho showed Bomo of his hoyhood efforts alongside of some of his later-day triumphs In tho engi neering line. During the summer of 1900 ho was one of tho six representa tives of tho American Institute of Electrical Engineers, tho foremost body of his profession, at tho International Electrical Congress nt Paris. When tho congress was over ho spent the reBt of tho Bummer In traveling through Europo studying tho principal engineering works. During this trip ),rothor engineers Mr. Arnold Is a member of the Union League Club of Chicago; one of the organizers and a member of the first board of directors of the Tech nlcol Club of Chicago; Is an honored member and for Bovoral terms has been a trustee of tho Western Society of Engineers; Is a member of the American Association for the Advance mont of SHpnrPi of thp American So Hptv for tnP promotnn of Engineer GEiiw.n Caui.kton. What the Flectrlcnl F-nerineeHnjt (Irnduntcs arc Dolnjr As nearly as can be ascertained, dur-' Ing the venrs 1991 to 1901 Inclusive, ! lnrgo number of o'hor students who havo received Instruction In the department, but only those who have taken up the work with the Intention of adopting olectrlcal engineering as a profession. That they left tho University fairly equipped to begin tholr professional career Is evinced by tho Important works upon which many of them have ' I already been engaged. In 1891 there was but ono graduate. , i aim ciiic runway cuierpribes i which have been promoted by English flnnnclers ln and about Buenos Aires. Thoso vnrlons Interests are controlled by "La Capital Traction and Electric Co., London. England, and Buenos Aires." Among the outlvlng Installa tlons belonging to this company, mav bo mentioned that at Cordoba, 460 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, where thero is a hydraulic plant and 16 mile transmission of 2.300 kilowatt capacity. As chief engineer for the abovo company Mr. McCrosky has. with his corps of assistants, designed and built the extensive street railway system of Buenos Aires. The Income onjoyed by this engineer Is too large to ho considered commensurate with tn0B0 plotte(i n tho accompnnylng dia- granii an(1 honcp haa boen neglected. Hnrdly less notable has been tho ' career of Mr Jameg A Darkloy who j wa8 ono of two to graduatG tho fol. sit and Land Company ns a highly paid expert, having previously had an As further evidence of tlie esteem ln which our young engineers are held abroad may bo cited the Nebraska col- ony In Havana, and since ho has mod estly refrained from mentioning It. tho responsible work done by Mr. Fred eric 13. Ryons In tho construction and operation of the Havana street rail way. At homo wo find many of tho elec trical graduates holding excellent po sitions, especially with tho largest and most progressive electrical concorns. In New York City, In spite of close competition with Cornell. Colnmbln and Stephens Institute, there are at present six electrical graduates from tho University of Nebraska. A circular letter recently Issued bv tho department has brought full par tlculars concerning present occupation of 47 of tho above mentioned gentle men, tho remuneration received being in all cases definitely stated. Reliable information Is alRO at hand concerning the whereabouts of 14 of the others leaving only 4 unaccounted for. Of thn 61 men thus accounted for 49 are engaged In electrical pursuits. 1 Is a nrofossor of phvslcs. 1 Is a lieutenant In the regular nrmv. 4 arc mining en gineers. 2 civil enclneers In the field 2 mechanical drouchtsmen with steam railroads, 1 an Instructor In meehn" leal engineering, and 1 In tho legal profession. In regard to salaries, theso have been plotted In the accompanying flu ure, arranged In decreasing order. In tho figure each horizontal Bpace stands for one person, the salaries be Ing represented bv vertical distance The heavy vertical line on the right serves to separate graduates of the past three years from those who have been longer In nrac- tlce. No grnduatos earlier than ,hoRO of isnt) nvG found In the portion to the right of this line, while only 5 later than 1898 are Included In the left hand division. Tho following deductions havo been awn from a careful survey of the (1ata ln nanl- ),'t from the nature or , " """Joel, can only bo relied upon to , ' usn .uen 01 me concuuons I """ "" '" ihulii;w. 3000 2000 lOOO j 1. Tho electrical graduate of aver- j age ability should expect to bo able to command at tho least ?780 per annum ufter three years of practical experi ence. 2. Among graduates who have had I more than throe and less than ten years of practical experience, natural ability and accidents of opportunity appear to bo the principal factor, al though tho branch of electrical work undertaken has some Influence, as ap pears from the following: For In- stance we havo among the higher sal arles, men of '96, '97, and '98 lndls crlmlnately mixed with men of '93, 94, and '95. 3. Several heads may bo chosen rep resenting different branches of elec trical work, tho salaries under each head Bhowing enough equality to con stltuto a real typical class for which an average value may bo found, thus: Average Salary. (a) Successful olectrlcal sales men 1,570 (b) Young engineers of ability, with largo manufacturing con cerns, who are given some real responsibility ln con struction of plants or devel opment of new line of appa ratus 1,387 (c) Young engineers with sim ilar concern, ln draughting or testing department as fix tures 862 (d) Chief electricians of eloc trlc railways of moderate slzo 1,470 (e) Telephone electricians or In spectors with largo or small companies (does not lncludo chief electricians of large companies 680 (f) Graduates taken into large factory to be given a general experience before they become of real utility 405 (g) Electric light, chief electri cian in town of 7,000 to 10,000 inhabitants or ono of several electricians in company serv ing population of 50,000 or more 828 Note In the reports several In stances were noted where expenses wero paid In addition to salary. In such cases $500 was added to cover same.) It should bo remembered that those figures are averages only, which ap ply specifically to tho 46 men who wero fully reported, henco they can not be very generally applied. Tho number of salaries considered were Case (a) 4; case (b) 7; case (c) 9; case (d) 2; case (e) 6; case (f) 2, and case (g) 5. One thing is rcasonublj certain, and that is that class (b) are destined In later life to become the representative men of the profession and to enjoy the largest rate of pay for their services F.LH It Is this class from whom will nltl mately develop the Independent con sulting engineer, and It Is also very, likely that they will bo represented In tho managerial departments. Also classes (c) and (f) are ln lino of promotion to class (b), dependent up- I on tholr ability and capacity for work. Doubtless class (d) will become master mechanics or superintendents of electric railways, quite on an equal- lty, as to jalarjL aniL professional status, with the samo officials connect ed with steam roads. Various causes will operate to make class (a), though best paid at present, to advance very slowly, so that in the long run the professional men of equal ability will probably surpass thom. Puof. Geobqb- H. Mouse. fc 1 s-y-jammmtjujiftmira