IB!
TO
;M 6
Joi
'IB,
i r
J J Bf
Te Trade c the An.
!IK universal adoption of electricity
throughout the world has alre'dy
opened numberless avenues for
ki,lfu, studious; energetic work-
era, us juiure possiuiuiies lira
beyond calculation. What of the present?
An electrical worker reviews In the Chi
cago Trihmin present enndillona In tho
electrical Held and the opportunities await
ing young men of brains and energy, He
ays. In part:
To the young man with a good common
school education and an Inclination and
ability to study, the. trade of the electrical
worker opens up a field of opportunity un
doubtedly as good, if not better, than that
ottered by any craft. It la a trade, how
ever, where the qualifications for success
re not dependent upon the brawn nml
strength of the worker, but almost entirely
upon his brains and the ability to use the
a me. It Is one of the finer of the crafts,
Wherein brains are at a premium find
Wherin the worker will meet in the lay's
work problems whose solution would tax
the mind of a student.
The el;otrleal workers are divided into
three clasws of workmen, and apprentices
to the trade are accepted In the three
classes upon different systems.
The first class of electrical workers, the
A class, consists of competent journeymen
Who are engag:d In construction work. To
nter this apprentice class the beginner
must be between the agrs of IS and 21.
There is no examination for him in order
to enter. The time which he will have to
Serve before he Incomes a Journeyman is
three years here, as In all classes. In class
B the beginner may be 16 years old or over.
This class consists of what Is termed
"house electricians," and Includes the men
who have charge of power plants and shops
and factory workers. Clasa C consists of
telephone men. and to enter their ranks
the apprentice must te. as in clars A, be
tween IS and 1 years old.
The work of the apprentice who outers
class A will take him to outride work where
the journeymen are employed. In newly
constructed buildings, or wherever electri
cal light or rower apparatus Is being In
stalled. His duties will be that of general
helper to the Journeyman. He wfil at first
run errar.ds and help In the rough work of
the tr.nle, but as he leirns he will lie Al
lowed to do hi share of the electrical work.
He will be Initiated here into the practical
side of the work, the wire laving, soldering
and other mechanical detail.". This is the
work of the Journeyman electrician.
For the first year of his services there Is
no regulation to gr,vrrn tiie pay of an ap
prentice. If he is large and apt at the
work, however, he will probably receive $S
r J9 to begin with. The second year his
wages In this class are fixed at a minimum
ef $2 per day. and for the third and last
year he will be paid not less than $T per
ay.
While he Is working he will be required
to attend the school which the organized
electricians have for his instruction. This
school holds classes once every two weeks.
There the apprentice will listen to lectures
by competent Instructors and receive other
Instruction. Also at each meeting of the
class be will receive a set of examples
which be will take home to study and work
upon until the next session of the school.
In this way be will in his three years'
Kervlce as apprentice acquire ability us a
practical worker as well as training in the
theoretical side of his trade. At the end '
r hla three years an examination is held
in determine hla knowledge of the trade.
The examination Is for the most part prac-tv.-tl,
but the apprentice who has been
Hgent toward his work or the lessons
en him at the school will find It hard
j.ass. If he does pass he will be a jour-
: man. As such be will be paid $4.50 a
for an eight hour day.
r the young man under IS who wishes
nter the trade clasa B is open. Here
may be two years younger, as the
work he Is expected to do Is not of the
character required of the apprentice In the
other classes. He begins a errand buy In
a shop or at similar wcrk, and hla wanes
at the start are $6 or S7 a wrenk. The young
man who learns this branch of the trade
will be taught the manufacturing end of the
business and the handling of dynamos, mo
tors and electrical plants. His wages will
not he regulated, but lie may easily inako
himself so valuable to his employer that ho
will be paid as much more during his ap
prenticeship as if he were in class A.
Armature winders and the mm engaged in
other branches of shop work receive $'1.25
per d:L But to the young man Mho has
studied during his period of learning there
Is always the chance to peeuro a position In
charge of an electrical plant, and there his
wages will not be regulated by any rule,
but will be dependent upon his ability and
the poet t ion he holds. From $M) to
per month la the range of the salaries re
ceived by the competent men In this class
of work. There is practically no limit to
the position and wages that he may worit
up to in his line.
The third class of electrical workers, clase
C. are telephone men. The wages of the
Journeymen in this department of the trade
are $3 per day, and it docs not offer the field
for advancement the other lines do.
To achieve success in the higher lines of
electrical work the young man should ho
studiously Inclined. He will, while employed
as an ordinary worker at his trade, .receive
wages quite equal to those received by
other trades, but his opportunities for ad
vancement will he so many and generous
that It will be said negligence upon his part
if he docs nut study and learn the tilings
that will help htm to rise to a superior po
sition in hla craft. He should strive wliilo
working to read books and journals that
bcur upon his trade, and otherwise keep
himself informed in regard to the latest
things In electrical equipment.
There is probacy no branch of skilled
wcrk In which tl.e progress is eo rapid as
In this, and it Is extremely necessary for
him who wishes to rise in it to keep abreast
of the times. If he does this, and is a cap
able workman, he can work into the clasa
of experts in a short time. These men w ho
have perfected themselves in one particu
lar line of work are paid from JC to $7 per
day.
If he goes Into the ranks of the "house
electricians." and takes charge of a plant,
be can earn a great deal more. This is all
.within the reach of the practical workman
who has not acquired more than a cursory
knowledge of the technical part of his
trade.
To the young man who has studied for
two or three years after teoming a jour
neyman there arc even greater possibilities
within easy reach. He may become an es
timator, superintendent, or even an elec
trical engineer, and in many of these the.
pay la much higher.
w Kleetrie Automobile.
United States Consul ilaynes, report
ing from Kouen. France, nonds the fol
lowing, which is copied from a Paris news
paper: The trials which were made yesterday
morning at Ingchamps with a new elec
tric carriage constructed by tho Klectruino.
Ikm company, . whose headquarters are In
the Avenue Montague, give every promise
of creating a revolution In the automobile
world.
LJke all the firms which arc interested
In the construction of electric carriages,
the Soclete Ktectromotlon has, up to the
present, employed for the transmission
of power to tho wheels motors of high
ppttcd, with SU) to 1.000 revolutions a min
ute, these acting with the intermediary of
chains and pinions or pinions and gearing.
This method has been adopted up till now
in order to avoid the weight of the elec
tric motors. The drawbacks to this sys
tem are ns follows: The pinions, chalm
and genrJng absorb no small amount ef
force, this loss beginning at S per cent
and Increasing with wear. The battery also
progressively wen kens.
Then the gearing, pinions or chains have
to be changed periodically, causing ex
pense and the laying up of the carriage
for repairs. The use' of pinions, chain. and
gearing, lxwever carefully the vehicle may
have born constructed, always ptoduers
a grinding noise, which Increases with
wear, and this grinding detracts from tho
charm of ele-ctrie carriage riding. Again,
the overheating ef the motors limits their
action. Thus in existing systems high
power batteries, which render the carriage
heavy, ure absolutely necessary.
The Klectromotlon company's new method
of transmission has been tried over uml
over again, but this is the first time that
the Inventors' dreams have been realized,
and so satisiied Is the company with tho
perfected Invention that it has obtained
patent rights for all countries.
The system Is simple. Tho motors and
the wheels are one and tho same thing,
working together, running at the same
speed and without any kind of intermediary-
The "live axles" can be placed in
front or behind. They receive their mo
tive power direct from the accumulators,
and the chains, pinions and gearings tiro
things of the past.
A carriage with live axles can travel
20 to 30 per cent farther thun the ordinary
carriage, for the reason that it is relieved
from lost energy and lias no Impediments.
In a word, weight is reduced, power in
creased, beating diminished, and absolute
silence obtained, whllo wear and tear are
brought to a minimum.
This Invention can bo applied to any kind
of vehicle, although at present the private
carriage Is receiving all attention. In the
trial the new system, although primitively
mounted, worked admirably at five speeds,
varying between four and a half und nine
teen miics an hour, and with perfect
silence. There was no Jar In starting or in
changing speed. The general appearance
of the carriage is Improved, as the motor
being removed from under the vehicle, the
body can be built low. It may be said
that the wheels on. which tho motors are
placed look clumsy compared with tho-o
on the present-day carriages. This is sim
ply a mutter of first sight.
Sending Plclorra by Wire.
During several decades a number of meth
ods for reproducing simple pictures, draw
ings anil hand writings electrically at a dis
tance have been proposed und partly car
ried out, but none of them has led to a 10
sult of technical Importance. This seems
not to be the case with the improved sys
tem of I'rofKorn of Munich, whose success
is due principally to the employment of a
vacuum tube as an adjustable source of
light at the receiving station.
The essential arrangements are well
known from previous attempts. Two cylin
ders, one at the sending and one ut the
receiving station, run in synchronism. On
the former Is the picture to be trans
mitted, preferrably on a film, and on the
'latter is a sensitave photographic film. A
fine ray of light, concentrated by lens from
a suitably arranged Nernst lamp, pene
trates the first film and strikes a selenium
cell inside of tho hollow glass cylinder.
The selenium cell is connected in series
with an accumulator battery, the line wire
and a current Indirator at the receiving
station. I'pon rotation of the hol'env cyl
inder the light ray describes a spiral Hue of
very small pitch on the film, like the stylus
of Ihc gramophone. In proportion to tho
blackening of the film the light ray is
weukened more or less, the resistance eif the
eelcnium cell raised accordingly, and the
current in the transmission line shows
corresponding reciprocal changes.
The time required for reproducing a pho
tograph Is at present half an hour. The
transmission line may, of course, be um'd
at the same time for telephony. Photo
graphs have been successfully transmit led
over a four-fold line between Munich and
Nuremburg, the resistance etf the complete
loop being 3.ro0 ohms. The time of trans
mission may be considerably diminished
by IniTeasing the deflecting and Indicating
powers of the g.ilvamimi tcr. The time
requlreel for the transmission of hand
writing or drawings is only one-twentieth
ef that necessary for pictures. At present
GOO words can easily lie transmitted In one
hour. By operating the high tension relay
directly by the line current an Improve
meat can be effected.
Rotable Discovery by AeeMenf.
It was by an accident that an Important
discovery was made at Stockton, Ceil., rc
cer.tly. It has always beten held Impossi
ble to synchronise electric currents ein the
same wire. Not only was this done, but
there waa no explosion when the heavy
load of two currents waa Imposed.
Also, power was sent from the plant of
the Bay Counties company at Colfax to the
Standard Klectric company at Meikelummo
Hill, a distance of VM miles. Stockton
city is supplied with power by the Stand
ard company, but there was a break In the
service, and tho Bay Counties power was
turned on.
When the Standard plant was placed In
operation again the two currents met some
where on the long liuu of wire, and th9
synchronizing occurred. There waa no
accident resulting from tho heavy load of
60 volts carried by the wirea during the
night. The diswvery is of the greatest Im
portance to all interested In electric power
plants.
Operntlns; Problem Reived.
The day when all railways will be oper
ated by electricity Instead of steam has
been brought a great deal closer, It Is
claimed, by the successful inauguration of
an alternating current electric car service
on the Ballston extension of the Sehonec
tady railway.
The new lino has an overhead trolley, Is
double-traclted with rails weighing seventy
flve pounds to the yard. Is gravel ballasted,
and has a maximum grade of 1.8 per cent
and a maximum curvature of 4.25 degrees.
The type of car In servle-e on this line Is
unlquo not only In that It Is equipped with
alternating current motors, but In that
these motors can be run either from an
alternating currmt of 2,Ci0 volts, stopped
down In the cur to JC0 volts, or from a
direct current of r(0 volts. This makes it
Ieis.--lilo to run curs by direct current on
one part of that road and by alternating
currents on another part.
The development of large power Stations
and transmission systems has been princi
pally with alternating current, requiring
rotary converters or other commut.itlng
devices for changing the alternating cur
rent Into a direct current of about 000 volts,
suitable for tho operation of electric rail
ways. Obviously, there would bo a great ad
vantage in railway motor equlppraent that
could be operated from an alternating cur
rent of high voltage, without the necessity
of ' Intermediate commuUUing devices. Of
still greater advantage would be such
equipment if It could bo operated em sys
tems having In part the alternating current
of high voltage and alao having the direct
current trolley In part. For years ch-e'trl-cal
engineers have tried to devise such a
motor, and It Is now claimed they have
solved th- problem, ns demonstrated by the
results achh vi d on the 8e-henetdy line.
Tho commercial development of the alter
nating current motor Is opportune, us steam
railway managements throughout the coun
try are displaying great nctlvity in acquir
ing competing electric roads and in electric
ally equipping portions of their systems
now operating at a loss with steam loenmo-