Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-03-27
rrausmi.,Ion Of Motiye pawer.


city OF Paris which will be introduced
rapidly in all the great cities ofthe world,
lift proves TO be in practice what science
aud theory predicate il to be. A company
Of capitalists and industrial men was
chartered in France for the purpose Of
selling motive power transmitted by com.
pressed air in iron tubes from central
focus to any machine shop or manutac-
turing establishment ofthe capital. Rates
will be fixed on the basis Of the amount
OF power used per hour, and will vary ac.
cording TO the distance between the place
where it is created and where it will be
employed. The constant increase in the
price Of fuel and labor, and the great
necessity for the economy in general,
must recommend the plan to all who
reflect upon the matter. Imagine
that by opening faucet of a
tube filled with compressed air, or
water, to which the power is commu-
nicated by the central generator, an en-
gine can be set in motion, and that the
amount of labor done, and to be paid for,
can be correctly indicated by an instru-
ment comparable to the ordinary gasom-
eter, and we at once see the incalculable
advantages of the scheme, An immense
deal of power, time, fuel and of appa-
ratus is wasted every day, especially in
small establishments. If only the time
and fuel can be saved, which are wasted
every morning to raise steam before it is
used and every evening after the close
of the days work; the steam which is
uselessly consumed during the many
stoppages of all the engines in a manu-.
featuring city; the time required for re.
pairs and the cleaning of the boilers; and
the pay of the hands during all these in
terruptions, the economy of an arrange
ment by which so much power only is to
be paid for as will have been virtually
employed must become evident to every
body.
In many extensive machine shops and
manufactures, the power created by
large central machines is transmitted by
shafts and belts to all points where it is
needed. They have very large tenement
houses in New York, in Berlin, and in
some cities of England, where the power
of single machine is transmitted by.
these means to hundred separate
rooms, wherein small amounts of power
are used for turning, smoothing, boring,
and great variety Of other employ
ments. For greater distances this method
is impracticable, and, in spite of the
great difficulty in making the pipes air
tight to prevent leakage, it is neverthe-
less universally admitted that system
of tubes filled with compressed air or
water by which the central generator
connects with all the points where power
is required, is the cheapest and most com
modlous way of transmitting power to
great distances. In scientifically worked
mines ia Germany and England water is
often used for the transmission of power
to points distant two or three miles, and
here in St. Louis we have hydraulic
elevator in perfect operation where the
moving power is transmitted from point
about two miles distant. Though the
application of the last method always
depends on the localities and the work
which may be required, it seems that
compressed air in almost all cases is
preferable to any other vehicle of trans
mission. The tunneling of Mount Gents
is done in that way. At the entrance of
the tunnel air is compressed by powerful
fixed steam engines, and carried through
tubes in the interior of the excavation,
where movable boring machines receive
the necessary power to bore the auger
holes needed to explode the rock by pow
der. Air is absolutely cheap and ready
for employment. Wherever a certain
labor is to be done, or where the
original motive power is TO com
municate part of it for trans
mission, air is always on hand in any
Imaginable quantity. The point, there
fore, can be fixed as favorably as possible,
without any regard to the transmitting
medium. If water is employed, it may
be wanting in the hot season from evap
oration, and in winter by freezing. Water
NAV require canals, costly embankments,
ponds or basins, and the tubes are ex-
posed to many more chances of damage
if they carry water than air. When the
air has done its work at the point where
it was required, it escapes into the atmos-
phere, or may even be used for ventila-
ton before it is finally dismissed. The
point where the transmitted power is to
be used may be situated much higher
than the point where the power is origi-
mated, for the raising of the air to that
point requires but very little force.
What the result of the application of
this new method would be in a demo-
cratic country, where every new invention
is at once popularized and adapted to the
use of the many, is not difficult to
foresee. If motive power can be trans
mitted like gas and water to any de.
sired point, an immense amount of
work done at present by hand will then
be done by machinery. In the course
of time, even in the greatest manu-
featuring places, the chirnneys and steam
engines would disappear, and the
danger of explosion be reduced nearly to
naught; and we can see no reason why
this method may not be adopted here
better than elsewhere. Our cities are
more regularly built, and better adapted
for the laying of the necessary tubas than
the crooked streets of the old continental
cities, and labor is still so dear in this
country, and economy, particularly IN
regard to fuel, is so desirable, that, If
there are not very great and unexpected
difficulties to overcome, we will soon see
companies, similar to that of Paris, or
ganized in many cities of the United
States.-St Louis Republican.