The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-07-30
MOTOR VEn1US STEAM
is RAPIDLY TAKING
THE PLACE OF HOT WATER.

| Purposes for Which st Furnishes Power.
The advance made By electrical science
and application during. the last few years
has been so phenouel,-' that it is hard to
define its extent, and 1t is only when an
attempt is made to follow the develop
ments in any particular branch that an
| approximate idea of i5s mighty progress
as a whole and its far reaching and ever
widening influence in the industrial world
can be arrived at
From Al investigation OF one field alone,
that of the electric nUtor, it at once be-
! comes apparent that q revolution of limit
less extent is being effected in industry
| and manufacture. There can be no doubt
that the electric motor is the most simple
and effective piece Of mechanism yet de-
vised for the transmission and transforma-
ton of energy in a trustworthy and eco
nomical manner for useful WORK
1t is quite possible that several of those
who read these lines may never have seen
in electric motor, yet it is none the less
true that there are today already in opera
ton in this country over 80, 900 electric mo-
tors of various sizes engaged in an endless
variety of occupations. One company
are now employed in nearly 200 distinct in
dustries, and that new uses are found
daily. This development he's been seen al
most entirely within the last three years.
GROWTH OF ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
From 1880 up to 1887 electrical engineers
and contractors had given their attention
mainly to the installation Of electric light
ing plants in American towns and cities,
with the result that there were some 200
central stations in operation supplying the
arc light or the incandescent light, and
sometimes both. a great many of these
stations paid well from the start, but it
was soon found that the lighting business
was after all a limited one-that is, it could
only be carried on during the hours of
darkness, so that a valuable plant often lay
idle sixteen or eighteen hours out of the
twenty-four. Yet the current which such
a plant could generate would lend itself as
readily to driving an electric motor as to
furnishing light in lamp, and the same
circuit that conveyed it to the lamps would
also convey it to the motors
1t was this fact that gave great stimu-
luS to the electric motor industry about
three years ago, and led TO the perfecting
Of what had heretofore been a very crude
and cumbersome piece of mechanism. AS
is now very generally known, the electric
motor has but one moving part, the revolv-
ing armature, and by means of a pulley
placed at the end of the armature shaft its
power can be applied TO any piece of appa-
ratus or machinery known to the arts.
But up to 1856 nearly all the electric motors
had been badly designed and poorly built,
n ha bofc CHI HOY
verified into power was simply wasted in
developing heat, so that the machines rap
idly burnt out and otherwise became use
less, and were altogether too expensive to
run.
SAVING IN MOTORS.
At the present time, however, there ara
several electric motors in the market of
excellent design and workmanship for
which as high an efficiency as over 90 per
cent. is claimed, and there can be no doubt
that the rate Of efficiency in the smaller
sizes as well as in the larger is the highest
that has yet been attained by any piece Of
power transmission machinery Thus an
electric motor of one-half or one-quarter
horse power will easily show as high an
efficiency as that of another sort of motor
of ten or fifteen horse power, yet nobody
dreams of expecting a gas engine or a
steam engine of one-quarter or one-half
horse power to give anything but a small
|eturn upon the fuel applied to it.
Moreover, with the electric motor an
enormous advantage has been the fact that
when it has been installed and connections
have been made with the circuits connect
ing it with the central station, it is practi-
cally ready that minute for work. All that
is necessary is the turning of a switch and
the current is instaptaneously there. With
the steam engine. even when the steam il
taken from the steam mains in the street
considerable attendance is necessary, and
in the vast majority of instances the steam
has to be manufactured on thespot, so that
boilers are necessary, involving the attend
ance of an expert engineer, the supply OF
water and coal and the removal of ashes
Such steam plants also occupy consider.
able space and throw off no small amount
of heat.
The idea, however, with the electric mo-
tor is to concentrate in central station
all the inconvenience connected with the
generation of steam and to transmit the
Anergy in the form of current, so that all
the user has to do is to draw off the supply
as he wants it, just as be would do in turn
ing tap to procure a supply Of water.
THE MOTOR IN NEW YORK.
New York city, to go no further, fur
nishes many interesting examples Of the
manner in which electric motors have been
applied to variety Of uses Wherever the
circuits pass they are tapped for power
purposes, and thus the central station,
which furnishes current at night for light
ing is supplying current in the day time
for power. In the lower part of the city
large number of motors are in use. These
are generally employed for ventilation pur-
poses, though not few may be found run
ming freight and passenger elevators. a
large number in the section below Cham
bers street are also to be found in printing
offices. In that section. too, and elsewhere
The motors are employed in a variety of
other work, such as driving gangs of sew
ing machines, saw mills, machine shops,
drug mills, pumps, ice cream freezers and
the like
In one OF the large confectionery factories
lhe electric motors grind up all the choco-
ate and other raw material. 4 large
number of motors are used by dentists to
run their lathes and other small machin-
cry. The motors may also often be found
IN BARRIERS saloons, where they not only
furnish ventilation, but in some instances
are used 10 run the rotary brushes provid-
ID for the happy customers heads. In one
arge Office in the city the electric motor is
to run a Httle stamping ma
,hine, which stamps thousands and thou
sands of documents every day with unerr-
ng regul2rity.-New York Sun.
Metal That Melts Easily.
& metal +ho- r,,aI+ ar III q lovr-