Omaha daily bee., 1888-09-30

tiguous cables. The committee, how
ever, advises the separation, as far as
possible, of the two kinds of conductors.
and this also is, we believe, now recog-
nized to be the better practice, in this
country. 1t is interesting to note that
the results obtained with continuous
and alternating currents do not differ
essentially, and that by the employment
OF what is known as the %concentric
cable, i. e., one in which the outgoing
and returning circuits are placed one
within the other, immunity from all
effects Of induction is obtained.
New York Street Cars.
Electrical World: 1t is, we think,
impossible to exaggerate the import
ance of the work now being done on the
Fourth avenue in the introduction of
electric street Jars. There are many
features special to this piece of work,
giving it unusual prominence and sig
niHcnnce. New York city, to begin
with, is peculiarly suitable for demon
strations of an improvement of this
character, and our firm conviction is
that the more the public see of the
storage cars the more they will insist
upon having them. So far as the pub
lie is concerned, the element of expense
does not enter into the matter any more
than it does into the agitation against
bobtail cars. 1t is enough that the cars
are swift, clean and safe, easily con-
trolled, do not in the slightest degree
affect the paving of the roadbed, save
the horses from a cruel fate, abolish the
malodorous a stables, tighten the
work of the drivers, and are free from
all the objections that can be raised
against either the steam elevated road
or the surface cable cars. On the other
hand, storage cars are cheaper than
horse cars to run, and that is the main
point for the operating companies;
while there is another enormous ad-
vantage in the fact chat the change
from the old system to the new
can be made gradually. Then
again, the adoption of storage for such
q road as the Fourth avenue is a very
hopeful and cheering sign, not only of
the liberal policy marking the Wander
bilt regime OF to-day, but Of the pros
poets OF electricity in urban passenger
traffic generally. If storage cars thus
find favor with one OF the largest and
most conservative arrangements in the
country, n may we'll be sanguine as tc
the future. We nave but one criticism
to offer on h new cars, suggested by
the successful trials, namely, that they
are almost too massive and handsome,
Perhaps 1T is not our business, but still
we believe that the car bodies might be
built much lighter without losing sta
bility.
The Power OF Electricity.
Iron Age: The electric motor busi
ness, which was in a nascent state a few
days ago, is now developing at an ever
faster rate than the electric light bust
ness, though the amount Of capital in,
vested and the value of the plant il
comparatively small. AT the present
time there are in use in Boston, for ex
ample, a large number Of snail motors
for various purposes, furnishing IN al
about, roughly estimating, 5OO-hors,
power, In New York city it is esti
mated hat there is about S00-hors.
power furnished by electric motors foI
various small industries. In Philadel
phia there are a considerable number
of electric motors in constant use, ant
tho same is true of Buffalo, Cincinnati
and Cleveland, and their number il
rapidly growing in all the large cities
In Chicago and Detroit the number i
smaller and the use somewhat restricted
owing to the efforts being made by mu
nicipal authorities to have the wire
put underground and the consequen
difficulty In making additions to tn
systems OF overhead wires. The motor
In use range IN power from one-half
horse power to l5-horsc power. 4