The Osceola times., 1883-12-08
HERE'S DEATH IN THE BOX.
More Facts About Arc Light Wires
and Storage Batteries.
Stored Electricity PeriIous-fire Marshal
Sheidon's Record OF the Wires-The Un-
derwriters-Arc Light Wires and Arson
Insulated Men on the Bridge.
n. Y. Times.

| One Eliot Il. Whiting, employed IN
certain storage battery" interest, has
taken it upon himself 10 derry the accu-
racy of some recent statements in the
Times with reference to the dangers OF
electricity confined in secondary or
storage" batteries, and, bolstering up
his assertion that "there is nothing so
safe or harmless in electricity as storage
battery" affirms that he will hold
naked wire in his hand and connect any
number of the Faure or Brush storage
batteries together and be not killed That
is simply bluff, as Mr.. Whiting proba-
bly, fully knows, if he has learned any
bthing about the subject whereof he
speaks.
Mr.. +. II. Johnson, an expert electri-
clan, whose opinion is respected by prac-
teal men in this branch of science, both
in this country and in Europe, having
been shown the original article in the
Times, to which Mr.. Whiting took ex-
ceptions, and also that gentleman's letter
in response, said:
"The statement in the Times is per-
fectly correct. While the storage bat
terry is undergoing its charging from the
arc light wire, under pressure of from
1000 to 2,400 volts during the several
hours required for that process, and
subsequently, until its cells are discon-
nected and broken up by switches into
multiple are series for incandescent
lights, it is, as the Times has said, more
hazardous than powder or dynamite
magazines so far as human life is con-
cerned.' To say that the electricity
stored-up in one of these batteries is
harmless and safe after that breaking up
is about the same as saying that ton of
gunpowder is safe and harmless after it
is thoroughly wet. Nobody questions
that. But how long is it dangerous Ii
is so during the process of charging, for
then it is TO all intents and purposes the
same as the wire conveying the charge
to il. Whatever the pressure of the cur
rent in the conductor, that is the pres
sure it will give, and, as your previous
informant has correctly said, the pres
sure is frequently as high as 400 volts
or 2l00 volts above what English ex
perts in their testimony before parlia
mentary committee have pronounced
dangerous to human life. How lonl
does the danger of charging continue ?
Well, that depends on the number o
cells to be charged, the number of in
candescent lights to be run, and tn,
time they are required to burn fixei
that. l have seen it reported on un
questionable authority that in charging
the storage batteries of a cotton mill il
Williamantic, Conn, as much as min,
hours continuous service of the dyna
mos is required. 1t always requires sew
eral hours, and that is the time wher
the storage battery is most dangerous.
Suppose the storage battery 10 hav,
been fully charged and its connection
p. | WIN llt liEiN wiz biohtl, ubtS u
continue equally dangerous up to tn,
moment when it is broken up into tn,
multiple arc system ?"
"That depends upon the number O
cells that were charged in series. 1
there was pressure of | 900 volts on the
arc wire, and there were 250 cells beins
charged, after the wire was removed
, there would be pressure in the battery
of say 800 volts, which might not be IA
, tai 10 life, but certainly would be danger
Gus. II there were say 425 cells, ther
they would have nearly the same pres.
sure, after being disconnected, as the are
light wine had. which would certainly be
fatal. Take Mckee Kankin's theatre fol
| illustration, where they have, under
stand, about 500 lights. They would re-
t quire 20 boxes Of 80 cells each, and those
Nolld have to be charged at pressure OF
about 1000 volts. When left standing
, they would have pressure of about 9OC
: volts They are then deadly, and will
be so until their pressure is lost by leak.
age or until they are switched into the
multiple are system, which will reduce
their pressure TO 900volts or even as low
as 30 volts To say that electricity
stored in a storage battery is different
from all other forms of electricity in that
: it will not give shock, the violence of
which is dependent upon its pressure, is
simply damnonsense. | know who this
man Whiting is. He is a paper. maker,
not an electrician at all. He knows
nothing about electricity beyond what
somebody has told him lately, has prob
ably no experience of more than 80 or
40 cells in series, and has no knowledge
whatever of the tremendous forces in
electricity, Let him connect 800 Faure
batteries and he will be as dead as a
door-nail before he has time to think
how much he didn't know before Cell
and battery used in this significance,
mean the same. No, five hundred for
supplying an incandesceut plant is not
an unusual number. IL is rather a pity
that some of these gentlemen who are
so brash about telling the public how
safe and harmless powerful currents of
electricity are were not much more bold
about personal experiment in tampering
with such currents. Society would be
/ 1