Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-10-03
ELECTRIC LIGHT.
JablochkOff's Porcelain Plate i'm Prac-
tice---Magneto-E Electric Machines Now
in Use

S1Vely COplcu lnlO OJnef Journals, mas
attracted considerable attention, and to
get the opinion of Professor George H.
Barker, of the University of Pennsylva-
MIA, reporter was detailed yesterday
Prof. Barker has become celebrated for
his thorough acquaintance with cleo
tricity, and being called upon, he said:
The points | would make in connec-
ton with the application of electric
light IN factories, workshops, etc, are
these:
1. Cheap production of electricity. 2.
Production of steady and satisfactory
light from it. The first of these require
ments has been completely attained.
The French machine, known as the
Gramme magneto-machine, and the
Am erlcan machine, known as the
Wallace machine, are capable
of producing from 1900 to 400 candle
lights to. the horse power consumed.
The Stem ens-Alteneck magneto-electro
machine, later than those mentioned, is
reported to give as high as 1900 candles
to the horsepower; but none of these
machines have yet been seen in this
country. With regard to the utilization
of the electricity produced by these ma
chimes for lighting purposes, the problem
has not been as successfully solved
In the older methods of producing
the electric light, complicated clock
work apparatus, called regulators, were
necessary to preserve a uniform distance
between the carbons producing the light.
By these, however, steady light was
never obtained, for even when the light
was preserved from entire extinction it
was intermittent in brilliancy and color.
Recently two methods have been devil
ed for making the light steady The
first Of these, contrived independently
by an English electrician, Werderman,
and a Russian officer, Jablochkof, is
called commonly the Jablochkoff candle
In this apparatus the two carbons are
placed side by side, separated by piece
of glass IN Werderman's candle and a
strip of kaolin in Jablochkoff The
electric current passes across from the
top of one carbon to the top of the other,
melting out the intervening insulating
material as the candle burns. The light
is perfectly steady, and the apparatus
has the great advantage that several
may be used in the same circuit, and
run by one machine The second con-
trivance for utilizing electricity in the
production of light is also the invention
of Jablochkoff The magneto-machine
used with this apparatus must give pos
tive and negative currents alternately
These currents pass through 4 coil OF
large wire, surrounding which IS another
and similar coil, the ends of which are
separated by a plate of porcelain from
two to three inches long, and about an
inch wide; across this plate at its top is
a band of black lead; when the machine
is set In operation its current in the in
Ter coil generates an induced current in
the outer one, and this current passing
across the porcelain plate renders it
luminous, and causes it to give out a
light of from II to 16 candles, which is
about that of an ordinary gas lamp. AS
there may be an indefinite number of
such coils in the current of one machine
las many as 50 having been employed
practically already, it would seem that
for Illuminating buildings which have a
large number of rooms, while the Jab-
lochkoff candle before described would
be better for the illumination of large
halls, foundries, machine shops, depots,
and the like. Both of these methods,
however, are yet on trial. The chief
difficulty in electric illumination con-
sists in dividing the light. If . hall, for
example, requires the light of 1000
candles to light it well, it would be much
better lighted by 100 electric lights of
twenty candles each than by a single
electric light of 1000 candles, because in
the latter case the light would be SO
powerful as to dazzle the eyes, while at
the same time the shadows produced by
it would be unpleasantly intense. Be
side the method of dividing the light
eabove referred to, and which would seem
to be the more satisfactory, attempts
have been made to diffuse the light in
other ways; as by enclosing it in a por-
celain or ground-glass shade, or by the
simple device of throwing the light on a
Whitened ceiling, from which it is reflect
ed upon the objects below. This latter
would seem to have been successful in
the following case, alluded to in the Re
veu I1adatarieHe
The application Of electricity to the
u lighting OF factories seems at last to be
accomplished. For some time the mag
neto-electric machines of Gramme have
been used in the lighting of certain
factories IN Paris and it's neighborhood,
and the number goes on increasing, and
where the ceilings are lofty and direct
light applicable the success is perfect.
Among the establishments so lighted are
those of NM. Call and Gle, engineers;
MN. Sautter, Lemonnier and Gle, the
make Of the Gramme machines, both of
Paris, and MN. Thomas and Powell, of
Rouen, and at the Fives-Lillie Works"
There are 143 Gramme machines used
in France for Illuminating public build
lngs, and experiments are being made
| for lighting by this method the Exhi-
b1tIon buildings in Paris in 1873"
Professor Swift also Finds the Comet.
| Rochester Union and Advertiser
A new comet was discovered hv Coo