The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-04-23
A GREAT WHITE LIGHT.
Sombre Night Lighted Up with the
Glory and BriIliancy of the Day.


On Saturday night, agreeably with the an
nonncement made IN the morning papers of that
day, the spacious rooms of the When clothing
store and the wide front of that wel-known and
enterprising establishment were lighted up by
the Jenney electric light. Mr.. j. T. Brush, the
manager of the When, one of the largest gas con-
sumers in the city, has for some time been in
vestigating the question of the electric ligh t.,
and, after a careful &C nsideraton of the merits
of the various lights, decided In favor of the
Jenney. He, therefore, placed in his establish
ment a twenty-five horse-p power Atlas en-
CINE and the Jenney dynamo-electrlc ma
chine, and on Saturday night lighted
up his sixteen lamps, nine OF which are in tue
| When store-rooms, six on the sidewalk in front
of the store, and one in the basement in the en-
gine-room The engine furnishes more than
sufficient power for the purpose, so far as the
| needs of the When are concerned, and 1t is Mr..
Brush's intention to furnish light to some of his
| neighbors If they desire it,.
| 1t is mere justice to say that the light excited
the unbounded admiration and unqualified
praise of the thousands who saw it on Saturday
evening. The street was Ihronged with people
disposed TO he critical, and some of them were
even just little unhappy because they could
| ind no fault whatever with the lighr, which
| burns with clear white and steady glow and
without hurting the eyes.
Each lamp is of two-thousand-candle power
| about one hundred and twenty-five times the
brilllaney OF ga'-and the cost per lamp is only
| one cent per hour. OF course, the outlay in the
| machlnery-in engine, generator aud lamps-is
considerable, but after the first outlay, the in
| terest on the investment the cost of fuel and
the hlre OF the engineer will make the running
| cost per month less than gas, besides getting
more than hundred times the hrllliancy III
| light. The Jenney light has several advantages
over the Brush light and other competitors.
There is absolutely no danger connected with
it. The reporter saw Mr. Mcdonald, the treas
| In
Mr.. Jenney, the inventor, take hold of the two
| poles OF the battery with no other result than
SLIGHT shock. Mr.. Mcdonald says lie can and
| does do THIS at any time with IMMUNITY. No Oh
lection Can be made to the Introduction OF this
ght into buildings on the score that 1t increases
| danger from fire. On that head it is safer than
gas. In comparison with the Brush Eight it may
be said that while they require one and q half
horse power for each lamp OF 1000 candle
| power, the Jenny requires but two-Jiirds of one
horse power for the light. Pre-
les lessons Men denial and RoOlnson, Of
| 10y Mr.. MOnette, practical engineer, recently
made test of thirty lamps burning in the Co.
| umbus buggy works, and found that IL took bat
twenty ana onequarter horsepower by the
Jenney system TO run thoseslamps- Another
superiority OF this light over the other electric
systems consists ~ the AUTOMATIC cutoff with
which each light or lamp is provided. This is
so arranged that one light may be extlnEulsed
without affecting the current or tho other lights
| on the circuit. In this way engine does not
need to he kept up to its full power, as by other
methods, but only the amount of power neces-
The Jenney machine also has an indicator 20
| show the exact strength of the current Dust as
a steam gauge on an englnel so that It isn't nee
| essary to look at the lamps to see how they are
| burning when there is always exact informa-
tior right under the eye of the engineer.
The JrDney light is clear white lin this re-
spect differing from other electric lights which
| have II blue Iintl and may be looked at without
giving pain or injury TO the eye, an experiment
| that can uot always or safely be INDUCED in
| with other strong lights The light
| burns with perfect steadiness, and wholly with
| out that distressing flicker that often onar-
| acterlzes the Brush light. This is accounted for
| by the method used in the Jenney light in feed
| ing the carbon. Another thing may be men,
| toned: The JeDney lamps are hunGby weights,
and when it is necessary TO clean them or put ill
a fresh supply of carbon, 1t may be done with
out the Intervention of an awkward, ungaipiy
| and mischievOus step-ladder. 70 ~
| Although the Jenney dynamo-eleciric mt
| chine has only been perfected few months. it is
| meeting with great favor. The Pennsylvania
| system of railroads has recently adopted the
light and is putting it in its depots II Is being
| placed in the depot at Fort Wayne; the extern
| sive works of the Columbus Buggy Company, at
Columbus, o., are lighted by II; the light Is he
| ing introduced into Louisville, KY, and q COM
| city with the Jenney light.
| Indianans may indulge in a little State pride
| over the fact that the inventor, Charles d.
Jenney, is a resident of Fort Wayne and that the
| con- paDy-the factory Is at Fort Wayne-1s en-
| tirey composed of Fort Wayne people, the pres
| ident being o. A. SimOns, or the First Nai0na al
| Bank of Fort Wayne vice-president, H. G. Odds;
| secretary, p. A. Randall, and treasurer Il L. Nc
| Donald. Mr. Jenney is II smooth-faced young fell
low, barely twenty years ole, land bears his hOnors
| blushngly. He is genius, and has undoubted-
| ly thus far invented and applied the cheapest
| and most perfect electric light.
| The street in front of the When store on Satur-
| day night was as brilliant midday, aud the
| goods in the immense show windows showed to
| even greater advantage than by daylight. There
| was no light needed in the windows, the six
| street lamps being more than sufficient. For
| that matter there WAS no need of any light on
| the other side of the way, and the gas light in
the neighborhOod looked very yellow and bill
| ious.
i Dbl IL