The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-06-18 00:00:00

ELECTRIC LIGHTING IN COAL MINES.

A Correspondent of The Times writes :—" On
Thursday and Friday in last week the Royal Commis-
sioners upon Accidents in Mines witnessed some yery
interesting experiments on the application of electric
lighting to coal mines. The colliery selected for these
experiments was the Pleasley Colliery, near Mansfield.
The pits are about 1,600 ft, deep, and the workings are
very extensive, but in the present instance the light
was applied to three workings only, zitgated at a distance
of about one-third of a mile from the bottom of the
pits. As it is a necessity in such an application of the
electric light that the light itself should be absolutely
cut off from all communication with the air surround-
ing the lamp, and also in order to permit of the use
of a large number of separate lamps upon one
circuit, the Swan system was employed. In this
system the light proceeds from the incaridescence of a
fine fibre of carbon, the combustion of which is pre-
vented by its being enclosed in an exhausted glass bulb.
The light of such a lamp varies from 12 to 50 candles,
and as many as 70 lamps can be worked upon one
circuit with an ordinary dynamo-electric machine. The
main wires were taken down the upe,ast shaft and con-
nected at the bottom of the pit with cables, which
were carried through the air passages till they arrived
at the main levels. They were then taken along these
main levels, and from them branch cables were carried
up ' gates ' or side passages to the face of the actual
workings. Here they were continued by insulated
wires upon which the lamps were placed, and which
were of sufficient length to reach to the extreme
limits of the face of the coal that was being worked.
The lamps themselves were enclosed in lanterns
of a very ingenious construction, designed and made by
Messrs., H. E. Crompton and Co., which enabled the
very fragile glass bulbs to be carried about without
fear of accident, and at the same time rendered it impos-
sible that the fracture of the lamp within could cause
an explosion, inasmuch as the air inside the lantern
would suffice for the instantaneous combustion of the
carbon filaments before the flame could be commu-
nicated to the external air. In working the coal
the men undercut the face to the depth of some five or
six feet, and the superincumbent mass is tben brought
down by wedges or blasting.
"As might have been expected, the new lamp was
found to be admirably suited for the reqairements of
the workers, since it not only gave a light many times
as intense as the lights it replaced, but it was equally
brilliant in whatever position it was placed, and it re-
quired absolutely no attention. In addition to the
lamps which were used in the actual workings of the
pit, the pit bottom was lighted up with similar lamps.
" The number of lights employed in all was 94, which
were wored by the current of an ordinary Gramme
machine driven by a portable engine placed near the
top of the upcast shaft. Had it been necessary, the
number of lamps might have been considerably
larger, but it was not desired to increase the scale of
the experiment, as it was sufficient to test the prac-
ticability of the scheme.
"The whole of the arrangements were carried out
under the personal superintendence of Mr. Harold
Thomson, of the firm of H. E. Crompton and Co.
The Commissioners, including Mr. Warrington Smyth,
Professor Tyndall, Professor Abel, and others, spent
two days in examining and testing ill various ways the
success of the experiment, and expressed themselves
as highly satisfied with the results obtained, and it
seems probable that this attempt will lead to further
and more extensive experiments of a similar kind."

A RAILWAY MISHAY.—Jint piter the 5 o'clock ex-
press train from Fenchurch-street to Sobend on
Saturday had past Plaistow, and while it was going
at the rate of about 50 miles an hour, the driver
observed a drove of about 18 bullocks straying on the
line. He at once blew his whistle and applied the
brake, but before the train could be brought to, the bul-
locks had been run into and three killed, The passen-
gers felt three distinct shocks, the first and most severe
jerking several persons quite half way across the car-
riages, but no one was injured.
RAILWAY COMPENSATION CASE.—In the Court of
Session, Edinburgh, on Saturday, an action against
the Caledonian hallway Comrany for damages was
settled. William Crockatt, the pursuer, a partner in
the firm of W. G. and W. Crockatt, sugar brokers,
Sauchiehall-street, Glasgow, claimed from the Cale-
donian Railway Company £4,000 as damages for per-
sonal injury received by him in the Pennilee accident
on the Bth of September, 1880. The defendants did
not deny their liability, but maintained that the sum
was excessive. On Saturday the Court was asked to
discharge the order for trial, pursuer having accepted
an offer of £1,200 with expenses.

THE GRAND PRIZE OF PARIS.

The Daily Telegraph gives a description of the race for the
Grand Prize of Paris, in a letter from its correspondent,
from which we extract the following :

The great racing event of the Parisian year has
passed off with even more than usual eclat, and has
resulted in the triumph of the stars and stripes. The
French would naturally have been gratified if the
splendid prize had fallen to one of their own stables,
but to speak the plain truth the Americans are
vastly more popular in Paris than are the English,
and they would rather see the blue ribbon of their
Turf fall to an American than to a horse of any other
nationality. As to the members of the large Trans-
atlantic colony in Paris no words an describe their
exnitation. To have carried off in one year the two
chief prizes in England and France is indeed an
achievement of which they have every reason to be
proud. The fact of their popularity in Paris is amply
eeted by the fact that their triumph is grudged by
none.
The morning was cloudy, but the weather was not
sufficiently threatening to keep people at home or to
induce the fair sex to lay aside the bright summer
toilettes they had ordered for the occasion. Indeed, I
scarcely remember to have seen more gay and varie-
gated, not to say fantastic, costumes at any former
Grand Prix. Wide Rembrandt hats, adorned with
gigantic plumes, and the bonnets, which, I belinee,
are known as "Mother liubbard's," were worn of
such extravagant shapes as to excite the notice and
sometimes the merriment even of the habitues of the
Enceinte du Pesage. The tribunes and the seats in front
were speedily cempletely occupied by the gentle sex,
while all the wide space between the stands and the
course was filled by a serried mass of male humanity.
The crowds congregated on the road round the lawn
at the back of the stand were continually obliged to
make way for the carriages of the official personages
who had been inyited to the presidential box, and this,
again, was surrounded by a curious, if not by any
means an enthusiastic, crowd. Ministers and public
personages are so often changed in France that their
very outward aepept is nnfamiliar to the general
public, and I heard the oddest mistakes made to-day
as to the identity of the occupants of the ex-Imperial
box. The only person about whom no error could be
made was M. Grevy, for he sat in the middle of the
front row, and looked thoroughly bored by the whole
proceedings. His worst enemies have never accused
him of being a sporting man.
The Correspondent proceeds to mention as being
present the (veer:. ".of gpin, M. Jules Ferry, and M.
Ern. athdlemy Saint Hilaire, as also :Baron de B•eyene and
Marshal McMahon. There were also present several
English Members of Parliament, whom the writer
refrains from mentioning, "lest their constituents
should think fit to question them as to the manner in
which' they spend the Sabbath day abroad ! "
The Correspondent proceeds to say —This crowd in
itself was well deserving of notice, even if only ion
a,ccennt of a feature which in French gatherings is
decidedly of recent growth. To a foreigner wilo has
had the opportunity of watching the gradnal develop-
ment of racing in France certainly the most Striking
characteristic of the multitude congregated to-day
was "knowingness-" . . . . Taking the general
crowd that paid one franc a head for admission
to the course, the bulk of the gathering appa-
rently consisted nf men of the cpmmercial clerk or
shop assistant classes. It was impossible not to
notice how each and every one seemed to have a
certain knowledge of the competing horses in every
race, and how eagerly the chances of this or that
favourite or outsider were discrassed with the acumen
only to be acquired by actual experience. . . . In
a word the vast throng of to-day afforded ample proof
that racing is fast gaining a hold on the people. . . .
The densest thrpng was packed together on the road
which separates the field from the Bois de Boulogne,
and here it seemed as though 'eVeiy man, woman, ad
child who could snatch a holiday had congregated to
see the race. Even the trees with their thick June
foliage were filled with spectators of the urchin type,
imptiently disregarding the helpless policemen sum-
moning' them to i'ciTa lima: A number of haycocks
also served as improviied. -etands, replacing with ad-
vantage the rickety benches on which a holiday crowd
is wont to trust itself to witness any particular
sight
A few minutes after four o'clock a movement of at-
tentieu was perceptible among the assembled thou-
sands passing like a wave 41prtg the surface of the
various crowds, and the well-known blue,and-eed of
Count Lagrange was seen on the first three horses that
emerged from the paddock. These were immediately
followed by the other seven horses which alone
remained opt of the originally long list of entries.
Albion's galloping was pronounced by the French-
men to be perfect, while the American and
English horses were more severely criticised,
Scobell's beautiful proportions nevertheless ex-
citing general admiration. After a short gallop
the horses walked slowly back in Indian file in front
of the tribunes, and then with little delay, there being
only one falec start before the flag was lowered, tile
lot got off in an irreproachable 144 p. FeThall at once
made the running, and kept nearly a length ahead of
his competitors until half way up the hill opposite the
stand. Here he was passed by Dublin, but, having
reached the crest of the hill, Fordham again shot
ahead and maintained Isis edvantage until he got to
the distance, when he was pressed clew y Albion and
Tristan. The latter, splendidly ridden by As-char,
ran the American so near that there was at first a
cry, " C'est Tristan qui a. gagn4," but instantly the
fateful number " 13 " went up, and it was known that
Fordharn had kept his advantage to the last. It was
only by a. short head that he won, and from the
distance the race, whieh weee superbly contested, re-
solved itself into a match between L'oediall and
Tristan. Albion finished third, while Fiddler WaS
fourth, and Scobell fifth. The time occupied by the
race was 3min. 17sec., being about five seconds less
than the averae,,e time. The pace, indeed, thanks to
Fexall. was tremendous. 'there was naturally very
little enthusiasm, but there Nyac, instappy a rush made
to catch a glimpse of the victor as he was walked beck
into the weighing ground, and the jockey was heartily
applauded. I speak now of the people in the grand
stand. On the course the scene was altogether dif-
ferent, for no sooner was number "13" shown than
twp enormous banners of stars and stripes were exhi-
bited sroin the top of a drag, the young men on the
roof waving meanwhile their white hate with frenzy.
The amusement created by this unusual display of
patriotism was thoroughly good-humoured, and the
congratulations with which every American was
greeted by his friends were as hearty as they were
sineera,

The New York Correspondent of the .pnify Nops, writing
on Sunday, says :

During the past two days the contest has been
looked forward to with the utmost interest, and it was
generally thought that the chances of Foxhall winning
the Grand Prix were infinitely better than Iroquois's
for the Blue Riband of the Derby, But that an
American horse should achieve a similar distinction
in France was considered too great a piece of good
luck to be confidently expected.
As I write the streets are resonant with the cries of
hupdrptis of boys shouting out the news of the
victory.
In the hotels and clubs, the only points where men
meet in large bodies to-day, the triumph of Foxhall is
the sole subject of conversation, and but one feeling is
expressed—that of unbounded satisfaction that Ameri-
can colours have again gone to the front on the second
most famous course in the world.
Mr. Keen, the owner of Fc4hall, is of course greatly
elated, and in conversation this afternoon said, "The
triumph of Iroquois and Foxhall has established the
fact that an American horse, properly bred, is equal
to any in the woxld. In England more money has
been spent in improving the breed, and greater
interest is taken in racing than here, because the
classes who can afford money and time are more
numerous there. Americans have just started in the
competition, and great benefits will accrue all around.
Contests of this kind bring countries and peoples
closer together, and help to cement the bonds of
friendship between them.'
As soon as Mr. Keen received the news of Foxhall's
succees he Gabled directions to have the horse brought
to England.