Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-01-31
ELECTRICAL PROGRESS

seie.tiae and Practical Advances lGaas
During TIE Past Year.
Much yet remains to be accom-.
plished in electric condition but the
great gains of the closing year. tech
uical and commercial. arc abundantly
apparent
The rate at which electric motors
have been installed for stationary
power is scarcely less noticeable than
the development of electric traction
during the year. About the first of
September it was estimated that 6, 900
electric motors were driving machin-
cry in the United States. A thousand
have probably been added since. 1t
seems reasonable to estimate the num-
Der put in operation for the year at
not much less than 1000.
The use of the storage battery as a
means of distribution may fairly be
said to have made relatively slow adj
vancement, while in many special cases
its employment has been of great value
and Importance. Its problems have
had and continue to enlist the close at
tention and skill of many able in
vestigators and inventors. and it can
not be doubted that the modern sue
cess thus far attained by this obvious
ly important and necessary means of
distributing electricity will be followed
not long hence by such improvements
as will make the accumulation a general
and trustworthy instrument in cleo
trical engineering.
The electric light, arc and incan-
descent. has become 80 familiar to
every body, even in the far Western
Territories. that its continued rapid
spread no longer attracts attention. It
is expected everywhere; its absence in
any considerable town is more noticed
than its presence. Great activity in
the installation of central station plants
has prevailed during the year, especial
ly in incandescent lighting. The sue
cess of the alternating current method
of distribution in covering large areas
of relatively sparse consumption has
largely stimulated the demand for
electric lighting in the smaller towns
of the country. and has also con-
tributed not a little toward in
citing the companies whose business
is based upon other methods of distri-
button to improving the capacity of
their apparatus and the serviceable-
ness of their lamps. The life of lamps
has been materially prolonged. while
a reduction has been effected in the
amount of energy required per candle
power. Whatever may be Ythought of
the policy of competition in prices.
there can be no question of the gener-
al benefit of competition in the eff
cheney and trustworthiness of appara-
tus and lamps. Competition of the
former kind, while severe, has Grip
pied only the weak, while that of the
latter sort has resulted in advantage
to both producers and consumers.
The practical success of the employ
ment of alternating currents has re-
acted in the laboratories of scientific
research, and led to the study of new
questions, or old questions in a new
light-study and experiment which
have already done much to clear the
path of the practical electrician in his
work, and which indicate the early ac-
QUESTION of further electrical knOwl-
edge of great significance.
The years scientific and practical
advances are. great enough for con-
graduation, but not great enough to
induce complacent satisfaction and re-
Taxation of effort. -Electrical Engineer.