The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-06-30 00:00:00

ELECTRIC LIGHTING AT THE

FISHERIES EXHIBITION.

The preliminary lighting up of the galleries and
courts of the Fisheries Exhibition on Tuesday night
demonstrated more completely thln has yet been done
the capabilities of the electric light for the illumina-
tion of the interiors of public buildings (says The
Times). In the even distribution of the lights, the
steadiness of the lamps, and the absence of patches of
shadow, the success of the trial was remarkable, and
well lighted as most of the galleries are by day, their
contents have certainly never been seen to such ad-
mirable effect as they now appear in the brilliant and
diffused radiance of the electric lamps. Every hue
in toe plumage of the birds whose feathers are to
tempt the salmon or the trout is brought out in
such gay or sober beauty as it may best serve the
purpose of the angler to use. The cases in which the
coral and pearly treaiures of the sea are displayed
appear to greater advantage and will be even more
tempting to the eyes of the fair visitors than by day,
and for the thousands who have to spend their days at
the desk, behind the counter, or in the work room, the
Great International Fisheries Exhibition need no
longer be only a name. Its tastefully set-out foreign
courts, the strange monsters of the deep, their prey
and their foes, the boats, and nets, and whaling ap-
paratus, and all the other things collected here which
show how and with what means adventurous fisher-
men pursue their calling in different parts of the world
may now be seen by those whose only opportunity of
seeing such sights comes when the day's work is done.
The enterprise of the 15 firms who have lent their
lamps and machinery has thus developed the exhibi-
tion into a truly popular institution.
On how large a scale the experiment has been carried
out may be gathered from the facts that the covered
portion of the exhibition lighted is seven acres in
extent; that the insulation covers 23 acres ; that over
25 miles of conducting wires are used ; that 56 dynamo.
machines are employed in the generation of electri.
city; that a capital of £45,000 is represented in the
carrying out of the work ; and that to drive these
machines and supply the bight of nearly 4,000 incan-
descent and 280 arc lamps, equivalent to nearly half a
million candles, steam-engines of 1,100 indicated horse-
power are running.

Passing through the vestibule lighted with 350
Woodhouse and Rawson lamps by Elphinstone
Vincmt, the British Sea Fisheries Gallery appears
under certainly the prettiest effect of electric lighting
yet seen in London. One's first idea is that myriads of
bright lamps are set in lines of light that converge
in the long perspective of the arcade. More exactly
one is informed that this charming illumination is pro-
duced with 1,040 Swan lights, of 20 candle power each,
arranged by Messrs. Siemens Brothers and Co. and to
which the current is supplied by two Siemens alternat-
ing machines. It will interest electricians to know that
the leading wires are connected, so that lamps on
alternate arches are worked by the same machine;
and that by a suitable arrangement of the circuits the
lamps are made to glow with equal brilliance in all
parts of the gallery without the employment of any
regulating apparatus. Me iirs. Siemens have also
illuminated the great conservatory very successfully
with four arc lamps of 5,000-candle power each, and,
with regard to these, it is worthy of note that they are
connected parallel and that the Siemens continuous
current machine which supplies the current is 420
yards distant. The lamps are of the ordinary
Siemens pattern, such as are used with single-light
machines, and they are worked without the shunt
regulating coil required when lamps are worked in
series.

The Newfoundland, Netherlands, and Belgian courts
are lighted by the Jablochkoff Company with 60 arc
lights, worked in three series by three Jablochkoff
Gramme machines, producing alternating currents. In
the Swedish and Norwegian courts the lighting is
effected with 15 Brockie arc lamps, supplied by a
Gramme machine. A remarkably brilliant and steady
Illumination of the Canadian and 'United States courts
is obtained with 15 Lea arc lamps, driven from three
Gramme machines. The Spanish and Russian annexes
are to be supplied with 10 Gerard arc lights each,
those in the first-named court run by a Siemens direct
current machine and the Russian by a Gerard com-
pound ‘ramme.
The long central promenade allotted to the British
freshwater fisheries was lighted by Mr. Henry Ed-
munds with 25 arc lamps of the Hochhausen pattern,
worked in series by a continuous current Hochhausen
machine absorbing 20-horse power and delivering a
current of 10 amperes. It is stated as an interesting
feature of this machine that the automatic regulator,
which keeps a constant current, but varies the electro-
motive force according to the demands of the work,
enables any number of lamps, from the maximum
to the minimum, or vice versd, to bp turned in or out
as may be required, without varying the speed of the
machine, or in any way affecting the lighting power of
the lamps still in circa%
" -

The eastern gallery in which are the collections of
China, New South Wales, India, the Straits Settle-
ments Japan, Chili, and France, &c., presents another
novelty in fanciful illumination which wellfsuits the
more ornate character of the decoration in this build-
ing. Some 600 Crookes incandescent lamps are sus-
pended from the arches of the roof, each lamp being
covered with a coloured semi-transparent reflector.
The current is supplied by two large and one small
Giilcher low tension dynamos, the circuits being so
arranged that all the lights hung on the odd-number
arches are served by one machine, the even-number
arches from the other, and a line of lights in the spaces
between the arches by the small machine. The light-
ing of this court has been carried out by the Glticher
Electric Light and Power Company. The dining
gallery is illuminated by 28 arc lights on a new system
by Mr. Charles Lever,

The pavilion of the Prince of Wales, in which by
the gracious permission of his Royal Highness Mr. E.
Birkbeck, M.P., the honorary director of the exhibi-
tion uu Tuesday night entertained a party of guests
invited to see the trial of the illumination, was lighted
by 184 Swan lamps, tastefully arranged so as to show
the interior to advantage by Mr. Goooh, the electrical
engineer of the exhibition, with the assistance of Mr.
Henry. It remains to add that the steam machinery
for driving all the dynamos is supplied by Messrs.
Davey Paxman and Co,, of Colchester.