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Innovation In Telephone Bate.
IHE New York Telephone company
has entered upon an Interesting
experiment. It is placing fiCO tele
phones in as many dwelling
house and private apartment in
the residence section Just above and below
Harlem river. No charge is mnde for put
ting In or taking out. The citizen who has
ordered the telephone guarantees nothing.
He simply pays 10 cent for each time ho
makes use of tho name.
The novel feature Is found in the method
of payment. Mr. A wishes to speak to
Mr. H. He drops 10 cents in a slut In the
machine and calls central. If central con
nects i.im with Mr. B the dime drops in'.o
nolher receptacle, and becomes the prop
erty of the telephone company. If central
cannot make the connection with B the
dime rolls out, Mr. A puts it in his pocket
and reserves It for a later chance. At
stated periods an agent of the company
comes around, collects the money and lo ks
the box up for future ue.
The company experts by this device not
only to increase the use of the telephone,
but also to save commission paid to the
drug stores and other places used as pay
citation. The citizen in whose house th
automatic collecting machine is placed 1.4
provided with a package of postal cards,
with which to request his friends to come
In and use his 'phone. The more service
It sees the more chance of Its being left
In on these advantageous terms.
Automobile With rower riant.
One of the great electric manufacturing
companies has recently finished and tested
a novel automobile. The car. which is of
the Tonneau type. Is propelled by electri
city, but instead of having storage batteries
It carries its own power plant.
A gasoline motor directly connected with
an electric generator is arranged in front
of the car, the generator being wired to an
electric motor on the rear axle. The use
of cams or cogs is eliminated, and the car
has repeatedly been stopped and started on
very steep grade, or stiff mud roads,
which would Inevitably have stalled the
gasoline or steam motors of like power.
Electricity on the Farm.
The large farmers of the west are taking
a deep Interest In power to supersede
horses or oxen. Steam tractors are being
used, open, however, to the risk of fire
among dry crops.
On one of the large wheat farms of Da
kota an experimental installation has been
made which may lead to the development
of the use of electricity In farming opera
tions. Power is generated at a mill site
three miles from the farm, and trans
mitted in the usual way to a power mast
forty feet high, set in open ground.
At the top of this mast is connected a
double conducting cable 600 feet long, this
In turn is connected to the tractor mo
bile, which consists of a twenty-five-horse
power motor on a heavy carriage. A spar
ten feet high is carried on the carriage,
with a universal joint pulley on top, over
which the cable is led to a drum on the
carriage, which automatically takes up the
slack cable as the tractor approaches the
power mast, the current being taken by
slutable connections through the drum to
the motor.
In operation the tractor is hitched to a
gang plow, cultivator or harvester, the
cable being kept by the action of the drum
from sagging to the ground. With this
length of cable twenty-five acres can be
worked, and the results are so satisfactory
that it is proposed to extend the system
to cover 600 acres, which will require
twenty-four masts at suitable intervals.
Furthermore, in spring wheat operations
every day's delay in seeding after the
(round can be worked is detrimental to
the future crop, and the owners of this
farm are considering the proposition of
installing arc lamps on these masts and
carrying on their operations day and night
at such seasons.
A dinner was given at the Waldorf-Astoria
last week in honor of the twenty
lifth anniversary of the introduction of the
incandescent electric light and tho fifty
seventh anniversary of the birth of Thomas
A. Kdison. Mr. Kdison was the guest of
honor.
One end of the Commercial Cable com
pany's cable was taken Into the grand
ball room of the hotel, and connected to
the table at which tho Inventor w;a sented.
By means of the old quadruplex Instrument
which Mr. KdUon used many years ago
when he was a telegraph operator, and
which ha Ixen In the museum of the
Western I'nlon Telegraph company for a
long time, he sent a message across the
ocean to Marconi. Missages to all of the
great scientists in tioth America and Ku
rope were sent from tho room where the
dinner was held.
The deed of trust of the Kdison Medal
association Was presented at the dinner.
The asoclation has raised a fund, the
income of which will be applied annually
to the striking of a medal to be presented
to the student In electrical engineering lu
the United States or Canada whose thesis
or recorded research shall lie deemed most
worthy. The Institute of Klectrical engi
neers will net as trustee.
K.le-.Mrlrlt y IJIrVrt From Knet.
In a recent Issue of Klectrlclty there ap
peared an article taken from oi of tre
dally papers describing an Invention for
generating electricity direct from fuel. Th
Invento', a resident of Newark, N. J., Is
elated, as he deems his invention perfected.
This problem of obtaining power direct
from coal and doing away with expensive
and cumbrous machinery, is one that in
ventors and scientists the world over have
been for years endeavoring to solve. Who
ever accomplishes it successfully and de
signs an apparatus that is practical will
be the means of revolutionising the exist
ing methods of generating motive power.
But unless this Newark genius has finally
hit upon the proper combination of ele
ments the problem is far from solved.
Thermopiles have been brought out In Ihe
past, for which great things were hoped
and which to all appearances accomplished
striking results in a small way. When,
however, more was required of them than
the operation of an electric- fan or a door
bell, fatal defects made their appearance.
The Internal resistance was too great and
the alloys made use of became oxidized.
The Newark Inventor claims that the effi
ciency of his apparatus, which he calls a
dynelectron, is 45 per cent as compared to
8'4 per cent when electric current Is gen
erated hy means of the steam engine. It Is
to be hoped that the dynelectron will be
able to accomplish what the steam engine
and dynamo now does, but until such is
actually proven to be tho case we are In
clined to be rather sceptical of the ability
of this new device.
Kiprraa Traffic On Trolley Lines.
By far the most Important feature of the
proposed consolidation of the express com
panies of Boston and Its suburbs is that
which proposes to use the electric railway
lines for express traffic. Seventeen of the
smaller electric roads of Massachusetts are
at present availing themselves of the priv
ilege granted by the general act of last
year and are using freight cars for tho
carrying of merchandise and baggage. "One
great obstacle at present stands In the way
of the general adoption of the system,"
says the Boston Transcript. "That is that
'the streets of the large cities are already
so crowded with cars for the transportation
of passengers and mail that It Is feared
that the running of express cars would bo
a Berlous Inconvenience to the general trav
eling public. The claim of street railway
managers that the general public would be
benefited by- the admission of electric cars
for carrying freight, because the revenues
derived from this soune would le In part
applied to the improvement of the railroad
service. Is offset with the probability thit
worse congestion of cars limn at present
would result in the Important routed of a
Ian) city like lioston. It Is of no use to
argue that the express car3 would ran
less congestion and interruption to traffic
than mail cars, for the reason that the
latter must lie run anyway. The exprtss
cars would cause a purely additional bur
den. "There is, hnwevcr, a great opportunity
before the electric line running into the
large cities In the transportation of mar
ket gardening products during the night
and early morning hour. Before S o'clock
there would Ih no great Interference with
passenger tratnc, and the rule Is for tho
markctmen to have their product In Bos
ton before that hour. Such a Hystem
would be of great benefit to the market
gardener, and the car could he warmed In
winter or kept co il In summer, as might
be desired. Harden products would arrive
In Boston quicker and in betetr condition
than at present, and. with storage facili
ties for cars In lioston, there would be no
necessity of running r us at other hours of
the day when Ihe streets are needed for
paatienger tramV, There seem to be little
doubt that a system of express ears, ope
rated by night, would be of great benefit
to Boston and the street railroads, and
this new step forward In modern Improve
ments, with the restrictions outlined alove,
seems entirely feasible."
fttallonary Power from A atom while.
A Wisconsin firm has recently introduced
nn appliance by means of which any auto
mobile may be readily used for stationary
power development. A small platform
Is set on n level with the floor of the shed
or shop, and ihe auto is backed upon It,
until the driving wheels rest upon two
small, wide faced wheels with slightly cor
rugated surfaces. The carriage Is then
clamped, by a simple device. In this posi
tion. The shaft which carries these wheels
also carries a pulley on Its outer end, and
on starting up the motor the motion Is
communicated to the small wheel on which
It rests, and thu the pulley, which can
be belted to any apparatus as desired.
It Is asserted that a Very efficient lighting
plant for a residence can be operated In
this way and the nuto can be placed In
position, or taken therefrom, a readily as
going into, or out of, a carriage house.
Frofected Third Hull.
A protected third rail, w7ilch has so often
been advocated for the elevated system in
New York City, but has as often been
judged a practical impossibility by engi
neers of the Manhattan Klevated com
pany, is permanently Installed for seven
teen miles on the electric road In Switzer
land, between Le Fa yet and Chamounix.
This protected system Is entirely success
ful, and has been beset by none of the
difficulties put forward by those opposed
to Its local adoption. The protection Is af
forded by an Isolated box of paraffined
beech, which makes contact with the rail
impossible except through the narrow silt,
at (he side towsrd the car, through which
the metal connection with the motor of the
car is established. The top of the box is
fixed with Iron distance pieces which sup
port it only nn the off side of the box,
thus allowing the above mentioned opening.
No connection would be established, there
fore, with the live rail unless something
was forced In through this slit. Anyone
could walk over the rail by stepping on
the box with perfect saferty. Although It
might naturally be supposed that such a
support would not possess sufficiently high
Insulating qualities for the pressure em
ployed to prevent considerable leakage. It
Is computed that Ihe maximum los in this
system Is less than one ampere or yard.
However, the leakage, it Is asserted, de
crease with a fall of rain or snow, owing
to this action washing off the dust and ac
cumulation that have taken from Ihe
strength of current.
Hallway Train T-lhony.
Though the activity of inventor in peek
ing a way to establish electric communi
cation between stations nud moving trains
ha not yet led to the adoption of any
such system, the Klectrle llevlew still con
aiders it a possibility. in its last Ihsuo
that periodical remarks editorially that
Kdison and other expert have shown a
preference for Induction rather Hum con
tact for leading the necessary Impulse
Into the instrument on car or engine. Tho
opinion Is expressed, nevertheless, that the
tralley wheel nd overhead wire or trans
mission from rails to car wheel may yet
be found equally feasible.
Another development of the near future,
to which mir contemporary makes no allu
sion, will doubtless have some hearing on
this question. The substitution of elec
tricity fur steam on many railroads in
America and Kurope within the next live
or ten year may he looked upon as a prac
tical certainty. Whether Ihe current be
conveyed lo the trains from the power
station by the third rail or by overhead
wires, the track proper will undoubtedly
be used as a mean of returning it. With
the right sort of apparatus and with a
special control of voltages, the same con
ductor can be used for more than one cur
rent. Kdison' quadruplex system of
telegraphy i a familiar illustration of tho
facl. Whether so light a current as I
needed for telegraphy or telephony can be
conveniently handled In direct association
with one powerful enough to drive a rail
way train is another question. The neces
sity for employing a scpurate route for tho
electric currents of a block Blgnul system,
where electricity Is used for motive pur
pose, has already been foreseen. In like
manner an independent conductor would
be required to light a red signal la tho
englniHir's cab to warn hJm of danger
ahead If that method of protection were
adopted on electric roads. It Is obvious,
therefore, that If communication Is going
to ho maintained with moving trains by
telegraph or telephone, track circuits can
not he utilized on the railways of thu fu
ture. Ho deafening is the din In a steam locomo
tive cab that a telephone there would seerh
to be useless. The motorman's apartment
on an electric train on one of the ele
vated roads, for Instance la less noisy; but
even In that a signal appealing to the eye
would probably be more effective. A con
ductor might be able to hear telephonic
orders, especially if his instrument were
placed in a booth whose walls had been
rendered partially sound proof. That plan
of issuing orders from a central point
would, of course. Involve drawbacks not
experienced hitherto. Some of thie ran
be foreseen. A he would not know pre
cisely when to expect orders, the con
ductor would be obliged to rely upon an
other employe an, operator, for Instance
for Indications that ho was wanted, and It
might take a minute or two to find him.
Again, if half a dozen trains were con
trolled by telephones connected trolley
wise with the same wire, misunderstand
ings might arise us to the particular con
ductor who was called. New York Tribune.
Busy Kleetrlo l.lnea.
The electric railroads last year carried
three times the population of the world.
The cur ran eleven times the distance be
tween the earth and sun. The capital in
vested is twice as much as the 1'nlted
States bonded debt, and the gross earnings
are $'SiO,0nO,iH). Taxes were paid amount
ing to $i:i,oao,(jo.
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