The daily gazette., 1878-09-10
FIFTH EDITION.
Inventions Big Triumph.
An Electric Machine that will
Transmit Power by Wire.
THE FORCE OF NIAGARA TO BE TURNED
TO USE IN NEW YORK cITY-EDIsoN
VIEWING THE APPARATUS AND
BECOMING ENr8rsfAsTIc
ASTONISHING RESULTS IN
CONNECTICUT LAB
RAToRY.

To utilize the vast power generated by
numberless rivers and tide-ways by
transmitting 1t from regions where not
used to points where 1t Is invaluable, has
long puzzled scientists. In places away
from the seaboard and the great water
coarses, especially, power has hereto
| fore been Obtained only by the erection
of expensive machinery, the corAtant
generation of steam, and the consequent
consumption of vast quantities OF coal
brought from distance.
Before starting for the West, Professtr
Barker had yisited .Ansonia, Conn,
where his old friend, MIR. William Wa
lace, Is engaged in the manufacture of
electrical machines. Mr.. Wallace has
profound scientific research, and besides
the mechanical part of his business, he
devetes himself enthusiastically to that
part of physics that comprehends cleo
tricity, magnetism and the pol lAriZation
of light. He showed Professor Barke.'
an instrument TO which he has devoted
the best years Of his life, but which was
| yet in crude coDdit on. He Is still ex-
perimenting with it, but he believed he
would SO peri, ct it AZ TO transmit power
| from one point to another by means of
electricity. '...-..
| 1t was an agreeable surprise to the par
ty to find that Mr.. Wallace had perfected
his machine. ing exceedingly modest
and caring not for notoiiety, he had
shown the instrument to few, and these
only persons whose lack of scientific
| knowledge prevented them from
comprehendng its usefulness. Mr.
Wallace calls it a telemachoD, and he
smiled with pride as he pointed 10 a num-
beraof these machines, each one an i'm
provement upon its predecessor, and
each having required years to design
and nearly 81 900 to construct.
NN.Ata 3-s- -
gloated over it. Ph, power was applied
to the telemachoD, and ii. ht electric
lights were kept ablaze at one time ,eacn
being equal to 1000 candles, the sui div
sion of electric lights being n thing un-
known to science. This filled up Mr..
Edison's cup of joy. He ran from the
instrument TO the lights and from the
| lights back TO the instrument. He spraw-
led over table with the simplicity of a
| child, and made all kinds of calcuiat ons.
He calculated the power of the instru-
ment and of the lights, the probable 10 s
| of power in transmission, the amount of
coal the instrument wocld save in day
week, a month, IA year, and the result
OF such saving on manufacturing.
by mears of IL power may be obtained
from places where river power or tidal
| power Is abundant, or may be generated
where fuel is cheap, as at the coal mines,
and by means of an ordinary cable be
transmitted hundreds of miles. The Ca
BILE may lie tapped at any point and power
| used tnerefrom
| AS an example how the fall of such
body as the falls of Niagara could be
practically utilized by means of the tele-
machon, a gentleman who has studied
the subject for years gave the following
Illustration last Sunday; A series OF
fumes could be constructed from the
edge of the descent of the American fails
to the level of the water below of size
sufti cit mt to carry all the water of the
Niagara River through water wheels.
With shafting this power would be used
to inrn the machine generating the cleo
trio current. This current could then be
carried to New York city by conductors,
which are copper rods. These rods may
be tapped then at any point, wherever
power is needed, and wires carried into
, factories just as gas Is now carried in
pipes through the streets. In the factory
"A telemaehon would be possessed of a
power sufficiently great to run the shaft
ing.
Thus the entire power required by tho
State of New YORK might be taken of
along the hne of the main conductors.
The amount of the electricity taken of
at any one point would be readily regu-
lated IN the same way in winch the cur.
rent taken from a battery for telegraphiC
a purposes is now regulated-that is, by in.
= Producing suitable resistance in the
local line.
So powerful are the magnets attached
: to this instrument, that the party, while
s observing it, were compelled 10 leave
their watches in another room, else they
e would have been magnetized.
h Mr. Edison believes thas he can so as
J. sist Mr.. Wallace in perfecting the teIe
Inachon that power may be transmitte,
frf, tn hn,,
. were telegraphie message. Already b,
g. means of this instrument Mr.. Wallace {
n enabled to transmit the power of tn
n Naugatuck River quarter of mile
/ The power of this stream is great enougl
to drive the ponderous machinery of th
IS Wallace factory, where 300 men are EN-
, ployed. A series of experiments with tn
:. instrument has shown that in the trans
n mission of this enormous power by cleo
n tricity only 20 per cent. is lost.
In Sundays experiment the hodemete
showed that the machine made 5000 re
= vOlutiontons minute.
The electricity from the wouderf,
telemachon may be applied to illumina
ton. 1t solv IS the problem of the sui
lace foundry and the Farrell foundry
near by, are lighted by these lights, th
army of men being formed In two divi
slons, one working during the day an
the, other up to midnight. Thickly stut
n ded as these foundries are with heav
- maci inery, and obstructed as the ligf
must necessarily be by the ponderor
Graves. drills, supporting columns an
prof ctions, a clear light is thrown upo
tne machinery perfectly iillumlnaiin
no it. Adjustments to the thirty-second {
an inch may be made without the leas
strdin upon the eyes. A beautiful effe,
OF this light is its polarization-that mo
tied appearance which it assumes whe
t' falling through glass. This is the onl
artificial light. 1t is said, that is capab
of producing it.