Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-02-01
ELECTRICAL EXTRACTS.

'>>A
in England to put stop to the system OF
foisting sham electrical appliances upon
an ignorant public. A vender of ''elec-
tropathic belts" which were said to cure
sciatica and innumerable other ailments,
has been brought into court and pun
ished for obtaining money under false
prctenses.
A NOVEL application of electricity is a
triturator for grinding drugs, which is
ingeniously fitted up to work by electric
motor, to save labor in chemists shops
or for drug grinders. The mortar or
mortars to the number required are
made to revolve by the electric motor
and very heavy porcelain pestle hangs
inside, the necessary grinding being AS
sured by the revolving of tho heavy
pestle by friction against the side of the
mortar.
THE big guns turned out by the En-
glish arsenals are now fitted with de-
vice to facilitate firing at night. The
ordinary sights arc Illuminated by a
small incandesccnt lamp, the rays from
which, passing through a lens, are con-
vcrged, so that only n minute point or
line Of sight, just sufficient TO distin-
guish tho sight, is obtained. by means
of an nd Unstable resistance the light can
be modulated to suit the degree of dark
ness of the night or the eye of the OBJ
server.
AN electric indicator of the names of
railway stations is coming into use in
England. A magnetic apparatus turning
a roller on which are printed the names
Of stations in good visible letters is it.
ted over the window of every carriage
with an electric bell to call the atten-
ton of passengers to the change. The
instruments are connected in series, and
are under the control of the guard, who
changes the names by simple touch of
a button before the train stops.
A NEW system of hanging electric
wires over the streets is proposed by a
Milwaukee electrician. A wrought-iron
arch will span the street between every
pair of poles to keep them from curving
or breaking and to prevent the wire
from sagging. The cross wires will be
supported by two properly insulated
wires suspended from the arch. Guard
wires will be hung from the arches par
allel with and above the traction wires,
SO that if telegraph or telephone wire
happens to break it will not fall on the
| heavily -charged wire.
AN official of well-known telephone
company says that there is no work that
| has such a fascination for women as
operating in the central Office of a tele-
phone company. Very few Of them ever
leave because they are dissatisfied with
the work. They go in, go through all
the grades and the several increases OF
salary which fall to them under the
length-of-scrvice rules of the company
get married and resign. That is about
tho history of telephone girl. The
pay is good and some of them get sixty
| dollars = month, but the work is very
| cxacting. 1t requires constant attcn
| ton, and the strain on the nerves is very
great while it lasts.
| A sINGULARillustra of the adapta
| bility of the electric light in an omCr
| gcncy was recently afforded. IE consc
Quence of n serious strike among The
| gas employees i'll Manchester and tho
total failure of the gas supply the Ian
cashire & Yorkshire Railway Compan,
decided to light their Victoria station
| which is The largest in Manchester, viii
the electric light, and within six hours
| of the time tho order was given thu
most important platforms were lighted
| and the whole station was brilliantly il
| Illuminated with about $50 incandcsccn
| and few arc lamps within thirty-si;
| hours, and yet the current had to be con
| vcycd for quarter of Il mile, and all th'
necessary circuits had to be run. TIN
company is so we'll pleased that step
arc being taken to have the clCctri
| light fixed permanently.