The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-12-10

An Electric Motor That can be Driven
by the Ordinary Light Wire.
"There is no telling what will yet be
accomplished by electricity" said a we'll
known electrician to reporter for the
New York Mail and Express. "Barely
more than half the recent discoveries
have been made known to the public.
1t is supposed that everything which has
merit can find market in New York.
Yet as fact this is not always the case.
The invention of Nikolo Tesla, Hun
garian, is a fact in point. He succeeded
in producing an electrical motor which
can be actually run by the refuse current
now lost in the alternating system OF
electric lighting. Tesla worked on this
motor for many years IN this city and
after seing his idea put into practical
operation prepared the proper models
and went to Pittsburg, Pa. There he ex-
hibited his designs and plans to large
firm, the members of which with char
acteristic shreWdness bought the patent
from Tesla, paying him good price for
it. Since then Tesla has remained in
Pittsburg, being engaged In improving
his invention. He deserves all the credit
for what he has accomplished. He has
produced a motor which some eminent
electricians claimed was impracticable
and unreasonable machine that will
supersede the make and break current
motors now in use.
81 suppose, like all electrical appli-
ances, it is expensive?" he was recently
asked.
"There you are entirely mistaken. It's
4
Any number Of them with great capacity
to do work can be attached to an cleo
tric-Hght line if the dynamos are large
enough. With two simple wires con-
Meeting the motor with the wire that
supplies a common electric light, man
ufacturer will have power enough to run
his machinery. The simple continuance
will relegate the steam engine back to
obscurity. twill be saving in time,
money and labor. The process is like
using the steam from an engine after it
has passed through cylinder"
Is the motor bulky or heavy?"
On the contrary, it is the opposite.
The motor occupies very small space.
1t size depends upon the number of
horsepower. One as large as an ordin-
airy telephone box has the power of one
horse. a five-horse power machine
weighs about $50 pounds. This is great
feature as compared with the make and
break motors, which are cumbersome,
and almost as bulky as steam engine"
How is the motor fOrmed?"
Each motor consists of a number of
circular discs, one-sixteenth of an inch
thick, punched and fastened together in
a series of bolts, which, with eight coils
of wire, and an armature running
through the cylinder of iron plate COM
prises the entire machine. Their mo-
ton is noiseless. In this they are unlike
the machine with commutators and
brushes. 1t is believed to be capable of
900 revolutions minute, but by turn
ing a switch short distance the speed
can be cut down to three or four revolu-
tiOns a minute. 1t is so easily applied
that any business having the ordinary /
electric light wires running into the
building, and requiring motive power of
any given capacity, can use, instead of
steam engine, one of these motors by
simply connecting it with the incandes-
cent light line"
But can this motor be brought with
in the reach of all?"
"That is another feature of its useful
ness. 1t is understood that these motors
will be turned out when the preparations
are completed, at the rate of from $12
pward, according to the number of
horsepower required. This, l think,
will bring them within the reach of
nearly every one who will have need of
such power, and will do away with many
of the unsafe steam boilers now used in
small factories"
--s-o-D-S