Omaha daily bee., 1888-05-20

Dh 80 w -
crane in the Cleveland steel works
which readily picks up billets and other
masses OF iron,a without the aid of any
other device. "A boy is thus enabled to
| do the work ora dozen men.
The American and other large cleo
trio lighting companies are using wire
covered with cotton saturated with a
peculiar compound, manufactured by
| the Okonite company, which makes the
wires very valuable for using in Wind
ing the ar1hatures and field magnets OF
The curiouaI fact has been noted by
! Palmieri and confirmed by Larrogue
that electricity is produced by the con-
| densation OF water. Considering the
great amount OF water continually
evaporatiug on the surface Of the earth
| the production OF electricity in this way
| may be no inconsiderable factor in nat
ural phenomena.
A new candle has been brought out
| which extinguishes itself in an hour.
This il does by a tiny extinguisher OF
tin, which is fastened in the wax by
wires and which effectually performs its
task. 1t is only necessary to remove
the dimiuutive extinguisher when its
work is done, and the candle is again
ready to burn another hour.
An electric surface railway has been
patented by Mr.. John A. Enos, Of Bos-
ton, Mass. 1t is Of that class in which
storage batteries are used, and the IN
vention relates more particularly to the
connections for taking the current
from the conductors along the line for
charging the storage batteries, and also
to the driving mechanism for propelling
the car.
Spain is the place for electricians just
| ,ou, Tho unyarn mani has 6pcrep1 that
all the theaters in the kingdom shall
adopt the electric light within six
months. Experts say that danger is in
this wholesale edict, for there are not
men and material in the country to do
the work in the required time, and if
there should be a ground influx OF cleo
t~ricians the work is likely to be too
hastily done to be safe.
The He'll Gate electric light tower was
sold at government auction last week for
| 1928. The tower was erected about two
years ago at a cost of about $l5 900. The
| light was said to be not a success. Maj
| iners found it cast shadows along he
surface of the water in the neighbor-
1000 of the tower which were danger
Gus to vessels. The purchaser is men
toned in the newspaper as Mr.. West
minister Abby.
Telephone communication can be
carried on between ships at sea by
means of a sound-propucing apparatus
| attached to each vessel, to be worked
under the surface of the water. Each
vessel also has a sound-receiving APP
paratus to take signals. Ineligible
| signals can be produced by this appar-
atus which would be transmitted
through thewater in al l directions
with considerable velocity.
DR.. Renk, OF Munich, has been expe-
rimenting on the utility of the electric
light, from a sanitary standpoint, in the
| National theater of Munich. He ound
| that the electric light had hardly any
influence On the deterioration of the air,
whereas the gaslight raised the temper
aturc of the room, deprived the air of
it's oxygen and rendered 1t injurious by
increasing the carbonie acid, especially
in the higher regions.
a novel application of the electric
motor is in use running the vertical
panoramic, signs on Court street, Bos-
ton. A three-horse power electric motor
does the work, and does it efficiently, al
though the heavy canvas signs are each
twenty feet wide and twenty feet long.
An ingenious j'ccontrivance at the the
motor reverses the motion OF the canvas
when necessary This ingenious con-
]trivance" was investigated recently and
found to be a very aifuble specimen of
the genus homo. There is certainly a
field there for an inventive genius to
do this work automatically and allow
the biped to descend from his lofty
perch.
With a sheet-iron disc mounted on an
axsis so as to be spun like a top, q. Z
Manet, French electrician, produce
an apparent reversal OF a familiar law.
Of physics. When ut rest or slowly ro-
tating the disc is attracted by Il horse
shoe magnet brought near, but then re-
volving rapidly it is repealed if the
magnet be presented to its fiat surface.
This curious phenomenon OF repulsion
is supposed to he due to the induced
currents set up by the motion of the iron
in Lthe magnetic field, and do not APP
pear until the rapidity of the revolution
gives currents of sufficient power to
more han counterbalauce the magnets
attraction. o.
From statements in the Electrical
World it appears that the cost of equip
ment for II five mile horse railway is
So 400 per mile, for an electric road for
the same length $3S 200. for Il cable
road $72, 300: and for a gas engine car
equipment S., 800. The cost of running
the horse railway is SO ,154 per mile per
year; electric road, $4,469. 10; cable road
50, $40. 80; gas engine road. $2,20l. so. AS
regards cable erection it is calculated
that mt the best, at least IS per cent of
the entire amount OF power used is
needed to simply run the cable without
any load: and if only about 80 per cent
of the entire energy of the coal is used
in making steam one can readily sec
how ext ravagant a system may be.
BAFFLED. f
Detroit Journal.
ii -. ..1... "a I'D. - IN;,r -