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OFFICE: ROOM 6, NEW YORK LIFE BUILDING.
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IHCAIIDESCEIIT AI1D
MERIDIAI1 LAMPS
Incandescent and Meridian
Lamps are constantly growing
in popularity. Their simplicity,
efficiency, low cost, flexiblAty
of operation, and adaptability to
all classes of service, are strong
arguments in favor of its use.
The Meridian Lamps solve the
problem of economically lighting
show windows, in all kinds of
stores. It is intermediate in in
tensity between the arc light and
the ordinary incandescent light.
Unequaled,. for porch, dining
room, or living room. To keep
cool don't use any other than
electric light. It is the only
cool, clean, hygienic, convenient
and satisfactory illuminant and
AL liwt illumination
The superior quality, volume and economy of the electric arc light is so well recognized,
that it is rapidly surpasing all other artificial lights for high class mercantile illuminations.
Where colored merchandise is displayed the question of uniform and steady illumination is of
somewhat secondary importance, in comparison to the consideration of the color or quality of
the light in general. ,
We are accustomed to regarding the colors of all objects in nature as being the property
of the material itself, whereas in reality the color depends upon the composition of the light and
the power of extinction of the various objects ijluminated.
The sensation of white, sucfi as produced by average daylight, is made up of all the colors
coming within range of color perception. Artificial lights differ from daylight morer less in their
composition or the proportion of the different colors they contain. For instance a light may be
composed of too much red or green, while the violet waves may not be present in sufficient quan
tity. Certain artificial lights omit too much violet and others are too rich in yellow and green.
In such cases where the balance is destroyed, the light is no longer white, but the excess or ab
sence of some particular shade is clearly noticeable, not only by the color effect, but also by a
lack of general brilliancy or distinctiveness. It is not onfy impossible to show material where
the light is weak, but merchandise displayed where the light does not bring out the colors of the
fabric, which robs the original color of its purity. This in many cases causes the customer to
become undecided, and a lost sale results.
ELECTRIC HEATIIIG PADS
Do away with the hot water bottle. The electric pad is so far
superior to it that there is no comparison to be made. It will stay hot
as long as desired, being soft and pliable, light in weight, sanitary, and
made ready immediately when wanted by simply attaching the cord,
which is supplied with it, to any lamp socket. A switch may be pro
vided at the bed side and can be turned on and off by the person using it.
THE ELECTRIC FLATIROIIS
Are- made in numerous shapes and designs. The temperature re
mains even as long as desired. Can be used without heating the room
to an excessive degree. One can also take it out on the porch, and
there in the cool breezes, do all the ironing.
the best at all times.
ELECTRIC HEATING & COOKING UTENSILS
Where electricity is used in the house for lighting, there are numer
ous little convenient appliances which may be attached to any lighting
circuit, and with double the value of the service to the family. The
articles may be seen in the exhibition department of the Lighting Co.
in the New York Life Building, Seventeenth and Farnam streets.
ELECTRIC CURLING HEATERS
No flame and no soot. When the iron is inserted in heater, current
is automatically turned on, and cut off when the iron is removed.
Ileats quickly, and the cost of operation so small that it is practically
inappreciable.
PORTABLE BRACKET LAMPS
A very useful device. It may be attached to the head of a bed for
reading or 6tood on the table or writing desk.
The merits of the Electric Motor as a means for supplying power for mechanical and com
mercial purposes are well known, and does not require extended notice here. Suffice it to say that
no other power supply is so reliable or flexible in application or so inexpensive in maintenance and
use as that furnished by a good old motor.
Figure all the costs and be convinced that f lectric power is more conomical than any other
power. A modern business should be run by modern power. You can run your whole plant with
one motor, or you can run it with as many as you like. We, however, recommend the latter.
With small motors, you can attach one to each machine, thereby effecting a great saving in power
consumption, by not running useless line shaft. In other words, a higher efficiency is secured by
installing a small motor for each machine to do your work. If necessary a motor can be driven at
a 25 per cent overload continuously without materially affecting its efficiency and without heat
ing above normal. '
The current consumed is almost In direct proportion to the load. Our expert will help
you to determine which is best for you. We want your power to cost you as little as possible.
You want power that is always ready a switch on your wall controls your power. It is ready
whenyou are stops when you ray so costs only when you use it.
NEW CONTRACTS JUST CLOSED
We have just closed light and power contracts with the following well known concerns:
Merrlam & Holmqulst Co. NebrAska-lowa Grain Co.
Updike Grain Co. Independent Elevator Co. Hoagland Building.
In all the horse power will aggregate 1630. The above firms have all had experience in
private plants, and they are in a position to judge which power is the cheapest to use.
ELECTRIC CHAFING DISH
Is ready clean and safe. It is quite inexpensive to operate, and
the heat may be regulated to a degree required with the utmost ease.
There is nothing to fill, or noth
ing to spill, and nothing to
cause fire, and the electric chaf
ing dish is always ready. It
is sold in various-sizes, and costs
a trifle more than the "never
ready kind," but not enough to
make up for the difference and
the quality of the service. A
most convenient device for night
suppers after the servants have
retired.
ELECTRIC STOVES
AND BROILERS
Electric stoves and broilers
can also be obtained. A child
can operate these devices as
well as an adult.
Personal Recollections of Some of the World-Famed Electricians
A CENTURY and ft half has elapsed since Benjamin Franklin
drew lightning from the clouds and transmitted electric shocks
across the Delaware river, but practical harnessing of elec
tricity dates back only threescore years. Within this com
paratively brief period all races and nationalities have been brought
Into touch and sympathy by the electric telegraph, which has become
the potential factor that gives the press Its tremendous power. Within
my own memory the telegraph has girdled the earth and placed Us
remotest parts into almost Instantaneous communication. Electrical
distance writing has boon supplemented by electrical distance talking,
distance lighting and distance propulsion.
As a pioneer telegrapher of more than thirteen years' continuous
service aud omateur In electric science, It has been my fortune to
come In contact with a number of eminent inventors and electricians
to whom the world, and especially America. Is indebted for many
marvelous achievements lu the domain of electrical discovery and
progress. '
Joseph Henry o Noted Pioneer
Most emiueut, U not the uiosi laiuous, among these was Prof.
JosepU Ueuiy. Aiy acquaintance w ith i tot. Ueuiy dates back to Uie
summer oi i0, while i was stationed as a military telegrapher at
asiiiugtou. living desirous or perfecting myself In electrical sci
ence, 1 procured a Utter of introduction to Fiof. ilenry, secretary of
the SuuUisoulau institute, from Colonel Au&ou Stager, chief ot the
Lnlted Mate Military Telegraph corps, and was most cordially re
ceived by him and accorded the privilege of the Smithsonian library
and laboratory. I' tot. Ueury wus then a man of middle ago, medium
height, chestuut hair, blue eyes, florid complexion, clean shaven face
and handsome features that wero pietervei by him to the advanced
ago of nearly fourscore years. At that time the electric telegraph
was only 18 years old. The tlrst wire across the contlneut had Just
been completed (July 4, 1S(12), while the tlrst cable bad been laid
across the Atlautic six years previously, but remained mute, only two
or three messages huviug been transmitted when It ceased to work.
Although Samuel 1 B. Morse, then tltf living, had been medal
lloued and honored by all nations as the father of the telegraph, Prof.
Ilenry was the real father and Inventor of the woiks Inside of the
watch, while I'rof. Morse contributed only the case. I'rof. Henry hud
discovered and perfected the tlrst electro-mnguet and taught Trof.
Morse how to use it in connection with his crude clock-work device
that registered the Morse alphabet of dots and dashes upon strips of
paper. Years before I'rof. Morse had conceived the idea of distance
communication by electric energy Frof. Henry, as Instructor in physlca
at l'rinceton college, had constructed an electric magnet that could lift
8,000 pounds and that magnet is still preserved in the l'rinceton col
lege museum. ,
First Weather Bureau Reports
My acquaintance with I'rof. Henry extended over more than a
dozen years aud he freely aud frequently talked about the Invaluable
assistance he had rendered l"Tof. Morse before he had taken out the
telegraph patents. Prof. Henry was a pure scientist and dlsdalued to
use bis inveutlous and discoveries for profit. Amoug the precious me
mentoea preserved by me Is an autograph letter from Prof. Henry in
beautiful script dated at the Smithsonian institute, Washington, D.
C February 20, 1804, which closes as follows:
I now embrace the first opportunity to Inform you that we shall
be pleased to receive any communication from you In regard to the
weather with which you inay favor us and we shrr'lrt be particularly
pleased to have a record of electrical phenomena you may observe,
from which a general account may be made up at the end of a given
time for our auuuul reports.
In compliance with this request, I established the first weather
bureau west of the Mississippi river and, under the direction of Prof.
Ilenry, had thermometer and barometer records taken at fixed hours
at Omaha. Julesburg, Fort Laramie, Fort Brtdger, South Pass and
Salt Lake City. Years thereafter Trof. Ilenry, in pawing through
Omaha, paid me a visit and recalled the Interesting material collected
for the first weather report service that bad ever been attempted In
the United States. It was not until 1307, if memory serves me( right.
By Edward Rosewater, Editor of The Omaha Bee
that the United States signal corps inaugurated a system of weather
reports extending across the continent
General Anson Stager
The most noted, all-around man among the pioneer telegraphers
was Anson Stager, a native of Rochester, N. Y., who at the outbreak
of the civil .ar was general superintendent of the Western Union Tel
egraph cunpany, with headquarters at Cleveland and subsequently
colonel and brevet brigadier general in command of the United States
Military Telegraph corps, with headquarters In the War depart nent,
to the close of the civil war, when he was promoted to the position of
vice president and general superintendent of the Western Union sys
tem, which had by that tlmo absorbed half ft dozen other systems.
Auson Stager was the first telegrapher 'who received a message by
tongue, a feat that was regarded as almost miraculous. While for
many years not actually eugaged In the operating room, he always
retained his skill as a manipulator of the key and reader by sound.
He was a short, stout man, with a large, round head, oval face, blue
eyes and reddish chlu whiskers, without moustache. General Stager
was the incarnation of executive force short, sharp, decisive, quick
to grasp a problem and quicker still to size up a man or a situation.
When Edward Crelghtcn, who had constructed the raclflc tele
graph between Omaha ind Salt Lake City in conjunction with
Bilghdtn Young, inked tv.or.eJ Stager to recommend to him an ec.i it
operator qtaliilcd iu muni, i, in the wild and woolly west, Colonel
Stager pointed n cut n a young man who could till the hit' mid by
way of encouragement tapped me on the shoulder and reimuhid:
"You will be worth $.10,000 in fifteen or twenty years If you mke a
position with Crelghton on the overland telegraph line." I:i those
days $30,000 was a very large fortune.
First Telegraph Superintendent
My acquaintance with James D. Reld, the first telegraph superin
tendent In America, did not begin until I had passed out of the tele
graph service in the '70s, but the greeting I received from him at our
first meeting made me understand without explanation how and wby
he had obtained such a Ann hold upon the affections of old tliuj teleg
raphers, and was looked up to by them as their mentor on oil matters
relating to the early history of the telegraph.
James D. Reld had been the Intimate friend and associate of Prof.
Morse In his struggles for the recognition of his claims and the estab
lishment of his system of telegraphy and, perhaps better than ury
other man, was in position to write the history of the telegraph in
America, which still remains the standard work among American
telegraphers. He was the antithesis of Ansou Stager, physically and
mentally tall, affable, genial, communicative and ot all times ap
proachable. At the age of more than fourscore he was appointed,
at the instance of Andrew Carnegie, a pioDeer telegrapher and coun
tryman, to the United States consulship at Dunfermline, Scotlund,
where he died in the harness In 1001 at the age of 00. When the
old time telegraphers held their reunion lu Oiuaha In 18!)2, James D.
Reld transmitted to me the following original poem, in his own hand
writing, which I still preserve.
Here's a health to you, my comrades
From Scotia's sea-girt shore,
From one who, having loved you ouce,
Will love you evermore.
This Is my native land, I know,
And I ought to love it best
But my heart beats proudest when I think
Of the great land of the west
God bless you all as you meet tonight,
Though I be far away;
Let band grasp band and heart touch heart
In all you do and say.
Cheers for the art that unifies,
That makes the uations one;
Cheers for the men who wield the key
'Xs'eatb the all beholding sua.
And cheers for the girls who work the wires,
Through every land and sea:
I send you all love's signal.
My own well known "73."
Wonders Worked by Delany
During my Inspection toura of the postal telegraph systems of
Europe in 18D1 I spent a couple of hours In the largest telegraph office
in the world, In the general postotHce building in the city of London,
where more than 3,000 operators are employed in the transmission of
dispatches. While most of the wires were equipped with Wheatstone
Instruments, several of their long-distance lines were equipped with
Delany'i sextuplex an Instrument that transmits six messages over
one wire at the same time, or two more than Edison's famous quad
ruples. .
. This instrument I was informed, is an American Invention, for
which the British government pays a royalty of $10,000 per annum
to Its Inventor. Fatrtck Bernard Delnny. When I met Mr. Delany
ten years ago he had perfected a number of inventions for facilitating
the transmission of dispatches by submarine cable and also an auto
matic telegraph system capable of transmitting from 800 to 1,200
words per minute over a single overhead wire.
Mr. Delany holds 150 patents, covering antl-lnduetlon cables, syn
the Associated Press, but Its managers decided to hold fast to the
Morse system, operated in conjunction with typewriting' machines.
Since then I have met Mr. Delaney occasionally and kept up a very In
teresting correspondence. Among American electrical engineers I
know of none who can boast of as large a number of devices for ex
pediting telegraphic communication.
Wizard Edison at Home
Mr. Delany endeavored to in introduce this system on the lines of
chronus multiples of telegraphy, automatic systems for ocean cables,
rapid machine telegraphy for laud lines, etc He Is a member of the
Franklin Institute, which awarded him the Elliott Cresson gold medal
and the John Scott legacy medal for his Inventions, and at the age
of 00 he Is still active In his scientific researches in bis laboratory at
South Orange, N. J., where another and more famous telegraph oper
ator, Thomas Edlsou, also makes his home and maintains his experi
mental laboratory.
Edison's phenomenal career Is a household word all over the globe
and It would be superfluous for me to Indulge even In a brief recital.
When I last met Edison in his laboratory at Menlo Park, which, by
the way, Is the greatest storehouse of books on the progress of sci
ences In all the languages and In materials for experimental alchemy,
he was dressed in a blue blouse and cotton overalls aud bard at work
In making chemical tests.
He had grown stout and gray, although he still has a full head
of hair, and bis handsome, smooth-shaven face preserves all the ap
pearance of middle-aged youth. While somewhat hard of hearing,
Edison Is a most Interesting conversationalist, and he talked freely,
not only about electricity, the subject always nearest to his heart, but
about the progress of the country and especially the growth of west,
eru cities. When asked as to whether he had reached any conclusion
as to the nature of electricity, he responded: "You know as much
about it as I do." That was simply an admission that he was still
in the dark notwithstanding all the electric Illumination evolved by
bis genius.
v Inventor of the Telephone
My first Introduction to Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of
the Bell telephone, took place about fifteen years ago at the residence
of Gardiner O. Hubbard in the city of Washington. Mr. Hubbard,
the father of Mrs. Bell, had manifested deep Interest In the postal
telegraph and had appeared before congressional committees as an
advocate of postal telegraph and appeared to be much Interested In the
Investigation I had made of the postal telegraphs of Europe.
At first sight I was impressed by Prof. Bell's superb physique and
massive head that recalled the portraits of Balzac and the elder
Dumas. He was brilliant in conversation, gracious in his manners
and his recital of the story of the first telephone constructed by him
for the benefit of his wife, from the lower to the upper floor of his
residence, was a genuine treat.
I , renewed my acquaintance with Prof. Bell when ho visited
Omaha a few years later and narrated publicly, for the first time, the
tory of his great Invention l)ofore an appreciative audience of tele
graph and telephone men.
Squier's Synchronograph Experiments
In the spring of 1887, while attending the Universal Postal con
gress, , then in session in Washington, I received an Invitation from
George Owen Squler, first lieutenant of artillery, U. S. A., to witness
some experiments with his automatic telegraph Invention at Fortress
Monroe. These experiments proved eminently satisfactory, although
the mechanism was somewhat complex. In August of the same year
I received a letter from Lieutenant Squler, dated from Ixmdon, In
which he wrote as follows:
"I know you will be Interested In hearing of some of the great
results of the syncbronograph which we huve recently been trying
over the government postal lines In England. The British govern
ment has given us every facility possible and are entirely convinced
of the superiority of our system. On August 22, over a line from
London via Y'ork and Aberdeen and return to Ixmdon, a distance of
over 1,100 miles, Including over eighty miles of underground cable,
we sent messages at the rate of 4,;iO0 words per minute and this speed
was only limited by the particular dynamo available. We have also
tried a cable of 120 knots, from here to Germany, and scut over it at
the rate of 1.8U0 words per minute. Our apparatus Is mounted in the
general postofhee at London, from which point the experiments thus
far have been made. I will be glad to send you a detailed account of
these experiments as soon as time permits making it out."
When it Is borne in mind that the most rapid speaker would not
talk more than 250 words per minute, this achievement would seem
almost Incredible and forcibly calls attention to the possibilities of
the future in the way of lightning communication. The fact that an
army officer In the artillery service should be the Inventor of -such
an apparatus is also most remarkable.
Putin at Work on Long Distance Transmission
Among the eminent electrical scientists with whom I have come
in touch recently Is Michael l'uplu, professor of electro mechanic la
Columbia university. I'rof. Pupln is an Americanized Hungarian ath
lete, who might have become a mat h for Jim Corbet t. Although still
on the sunny siile of 00, he has made prodigious strides in the field of
electricity. I visited Prof. Pupln early oue morning two years ago
last winter while be was at breakfast lu bis luxuriously furnished
apartment In New York and had a very agreeable running conversa
tion concerning certain electrical phenomena in which I had become
Interested aud Incidentally concerning some of lil recent Inventions,
which included , improvements on electrical current transmission over
long-distance wires aud through submarine cables, from which Prof.
Pupln has realized a respectable fortune. Ordinarily a very buy man
and not easily accessible. Prof. Pupln accorded me a courteous and
patient hearing ond freely communicated his views and Impressions
on the subject about which I was atixlnus to securu Information from
first source. E. UOSEWATEIt.
wo ooooo ooo
Wireless Telegraphy Report
The Grand Trunk road has issued a statement setting forth the
tests made In wireless telegraphy to couimunica'e with moving trains.
As early as October, l'JU2, the Grand Trunk demonstrated the prac
ticability of the se of wireless telegraphy "for this purpose. In its
first exiK-rlment a special train carrying the members of the American
Association of General Passengrr and Ticket agents from Chicago to
Portland was communicated with by wireless telegraphy at Dominique,
Quebec. Communication was mulutulned for from eight to ten milca.
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