Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-03-26
THE PROGRESS OF ELECTRICAL IN
YENTIOS.

Tho march Of electricity Il forward auu
the study Of It's powers, and the process o.
isvention for their application, proceed rap
idlv. The electrical exhibitions at Paris and
London have made more apparent than BE-
fore the possibilitie- that lie within the reach
Of the scientist and the inventor. This ex-
tends rot only 10 the use Of electricity ior
lighting, but to It's adaptation as suPplier
Of motive power, rivaling, and perhaps eur
passing, steam. This latter consummluion
is no less. probably much more to be desit. -u
than the former To be relieved from the
noise and dirt and smoke that accompanies
the -teaui-engine, and it, frequent explosions
that destroy life and property, would be
boon indeed. Efforts are making to relieve
large cities from the nuisance and deleterious
effects OF smoke by making fires con-
sumo their own smoke, but the most
ehectusI relief would come from the
prevention altogether OF the vast clouds
| Of smoke that arise from beneath the steam
| boiler. The argument in favor OF the accom-.
plishment Of this desirable result appears to
| be sound It Is that electricity furnishes
1 power without limit, one that has force 10
/ rsud the mightiest edifce, and that there
lore, under control, Is capable OF performing
/ ali that steam sccomplishes. The power IL
! there. all that is wanted is the skill and the
fundamentally to make it the obedieut
servant Of the human will. Already cleo
tricity can be made to run the sewing
machine and turn the lathe. We have,
therefore, got it to do the kind OF work we
require; We want only an increase in degree;
we have not something wholly new to create,
we merely require that more and greater
| things shall be done than have yet been
| secured The steam that now carries the
| gigantic ship across the ocean was once used
merely to move a toy for the amusement Of
the curious One grand thing about eloc-
tricity is that its force can be made avail
able far from the place where the machine
\ gathers and concentrates the force. The
wire that conveys light to the store or the
dwelling can be made also to conduct there
the power that assists the artisan with his
light machinery, and will one day almost
certainly whirl the shafts and pulleys
of the cotton-mill. This power may be
gathered by the aid of windmills and water
falls, and experiments are now making which
NAV result in the unlimited generation OF
electricity wherever there is a permanent
running stream. As the traveller ascends the
Mississippi he sees, at some distance above
Rsck Island, wheels whose edges dip into
the current of the river; they are constructed
much like the wheel OF the sternwheel boat
The stream striking the paddles causes the
wheel to revolve, and power is thus gained
that works some kind of machinery in a shop
on shore. Such wheels put into favorable
part of the current opposite Memphis may
probably, some day, roll round the dynamo
that collects the electric force, and so light
up our streets, and halls, and stores, and
homer, and supply power to run mills, raise
trip-hammers, and perform all the labors we
now exact from rushing, mischievous and
dangerous steam. At Washington com
pany has undertaken TO use the Potomac
falls to gather the electric force, which Is &c
be used in lighting up streets and edlhces
and giving to the grand capitol glow o
light whose equal never was seen at st
, Peters, a. Rome, when its illumination
were most extensive and gorgeous. Fol
telephone, as for other electrical nipple
ments, the same fundamentally can b'
made available. The cleanliness, silence
and ready conductibility OF the electro
, force will make its powers of mucl
wider application than has ever been posi-
Bile with steam. 1t will not only perform
, labor in the shop and the factory, but it viii
light up the parlor, boil the kettle, rails
the elevator, and carry the messages. Whel
a ride out is wanted it will run the bicycle
I when an excursion is desired it will turl
the wheel of the tiniest skiff as it will i'm
pei the mightiest steamboat. The use Q
electricity has ceased to be a mere matter c
. wonder and gratifer OF the inquisitive MIND
= il has become very useful and is fast slnkIn
into a very commonplace servant. Their
are at least twelve different systems now a
work at the London exhibition, one posses
sing one excellent property, another another
, | When some master hand combines these ex
eellencies, and banishes existing defects
electricity will prove to be the most univer
sally useful material agent at the comman
| of man.