Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1880-01-06

pertaining to the manufacture aud use
oi gas. Ii will be observed that the
chiei point made against the electric
light is the expense Of It's manufacture.
That this objection may bc obyiaird in
time. is the ardent wish ol gas consum-
ers generally:
OEFIcE OF
HARRIS, HEINE & MClLIKSNY,
PuILADELIuIiA, Dec. 81, 1872 J
DEAR SIR Much having appeared
during the past few days IN the papers
respecting the Electric Light at Mcnlu
Park calculated to disturb holders oi
Gas Stock, VT think il may not bc out
OF place to let our friends know how II
appeared 10 gas man.
W. visited the Park last evening and
spent few hours in examining What ~
tO be- seen there The various bulid-
ing constituting office. laboratory, aud
workshop, were lii with coal oil, gaso-
line gas, aud clectriCity-thc last all hc-
ing ol Edison's latest improvement in
the subdivision Of the electric light. rs
the latter is what We have 90 dO with,
We will COniinc ourselves tO Il.
Much oi what has appeared ia the pa
perS respecting the subdivision and the
horseshoe burners IL correct, aud To- an
extent greater than We were prepared
To see. But ut what increase ui "a
Iense this subdivision has been oh
tanned. no one but Mr.. Edison and his
assistants know. While everything
seems tO be- open ior inspection, II tx
impossible to tell whether ten-horSc
power OF fifty is being uSed, ol the one
hundred they have, toIkeep going the
thirty-tiye lights you see. The engine
/, very fine one, Ii inches bore with II
stroke OF T. inches, aud runs nj about
so revolutions per minute. They cla,m
II il capable oi running 500 lights. IL l.
connected with four Of Mr. Eilson's
dynamic machines. but only two were
being run, and they alta speed ol 200
revolutions per minute.
The lights were placed ia every posl-
ton that a gaslight could be- placed, and
i'm one where the latter could not, 4. e.,
at the bottom Of glass jar filled with
water. The glass globes are about three
inches in diameter, with neck some two
inches long To this ncCku glass stopper
is fitted by fusion, through which two
small wires pass, being an eighth ol an
inch apart, and also made air tight by
fusion. To the ends Of these wires the
carbon horseshoe Is attached. The
other ends Of these wires extend be-
yond the outer cad ul the plug, aud 10y
attaching one to the negative and tho
other to the positive wires, the horse.
shoe ls Immediately Illuminated, and
while the carbon IN but little thicker
than a horse hair the lighting up makes
it appear about the thickness ol an or
dinary straw, aud il really. looks very
pretty.
These little globes were suspended IN
many places to wires running along
the ceiling, less than foot apart Quite
"A number Of the gas fixtures had cups
screwed un where the gas burners had
been, These cups were connected with
small wires running along the body
and arms Ol the fixtures aud received
the neck oi the globe. With u small
set screw in the cup the connection
and circuit IN male and broken, and ~
done as readily IA the turning oiiOr on ui
gas, but there Is NO hallway about It.
Ii is either a full light or none, and II one
ur hall-tozen are turned oil, whether
the production oi electricity Is reduced
in proportion or not is something which
"no fellow" Of the gas man Kind can
find out This, however, is not the
only thing We will have To remain "a
Ignorance ui iOr the present. hut, tax
ing what they SAY To bc. in u great
measure, true, we think that ~ thc mat
ter now stands, the g,ls interest has uu
reason 10 apprrhcud serious permanent
injury. They claim that they ran sus-
tain clght ui these lights per horse
power. and that each light is equal 10
sixteen candies That this is an over
estimate no gls man seeing the lights aS
we saw them would doubt. our cstl-
mate wa, that II would take ut least
three, il not four Of them, 10 equal one
liyc-iout gas burner, supplied with It,
candle gaA. THIS being the case, they
would expcud horsepower to sustain
a light equal to two aud two-thlrds five
foot gls burners, supplied with l6-can-
die gas.
To supply these burners for IN hour,
II will require thirteen aud one thlrd
cubic icet Of gas, which. at u cost oi one
dollar per thousand IN the holder,
equals one cent aud "A thlrd.
The bcst oi steam-engines IN tins city,
run under the best Of management,
costs two and half cents per hour, per
horse power, which is almost dpublcthC
cost IL maintaining the same amount OF
light by electricity, according To- their
own showing. that It is by gas.
II their horseshues, rs exhibited
last evening gave the light
they claimed ior them, the
figures would he much nearer equal,
bat We have no hesitation in saying that
they claim all oi 40 per cen! more than
they are entitled tO. We all know that
il il not the safest way to estimate the
expense of supplying a burner with cost
oi gas in the holder.
But their mode ol estimating is about
rlual tO this. as they expect To lose
electricity IN sending hong distances, as
We do by leakage. They also expect TO
have gutta-percha lined pipes IN which
to lay their gutta.percha coated wires,
AMI stations 81 placed that no wire viii
exceed hall a mile IN length.
Prom this IL will be seen that their
outlay ior distribution, either IN capital
expended or service rendered by EN-
ployes, is not likely to be any less than
thE OF gas companies, In case they ever
grt that far, which we don't think they
ever viii
Feeling that some Of our friends at a
distance irvm here may bc unduly
alarmed from the exaggerated aud un-
friendly articles which have APP
pcared in many OF the newspapers, II
occurred to Us that II might be well 10
give the result of our visit and the
impression made by what we saw,
hoping We may allay excitement with
holders OF gas stocks, and prevent an
unnecessary saeritce. Itmust be borne
in mind BY all, We have and are now
occupying the field, and that for no
other purpose is our property worth
| anything: aud before yielding to an
oust, Nc will resort to our only alterna-
tive Of eoniesting il inch by inch, until
electricity proves its superiority over
/ gas for lighting purposes. This We
think will never be done