Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-02-12

.oi ,".uv-Whee' IN race or other stream
shu i'Vyv rect OF water turns the wheel one
volt. Again. 500 gallons OF watar say y,,o
turn o wheel two feet, and you have
ooO amperes and two volts: or again. If
Two feet OF water turn wheel 500 feet
IT rs two amperes and 500 voltS.n
Both the aInpere and the volt have func-
tons OF danger. For instance. IL Won take
asteel tube 100 feet long and put wire
the size OF SILK thread through IL and the
pressure IL sufhcient there is danger. II
tne low pressure Is applied there IL not
force enough TO carry water through n
tube or 10 make the electric current kill.
but II the pressure is increased the effect
will be fatal.
One thousand gallons of water might
not hurt TO fall one foot, but one gailor, 10
iali 900 feet would. SO You will ace that
the voltage is the measure of strength and
danger.
ARC LIGHTS.
Mr. Edison said he is not at all interested
IN arc lights. but his knowledge of them
mas convinced him that there is great dan
ger where the pressure is great. Eight
hundred volts no suggested as a safe niea-
sure for these lights.
speaking Of the danger Of different
charged wires coming together. Mr.. Edison
SAID telephone wires crossing arc-light
wires under certain conditions would burn
tho phone and IL might be possible. though
not probable, that person using that in
strument would be injured or killed.
ONLY MONEY NEEDED.
Coming down to the practical question
ut issue. Mr. Edison said all that is needed
To enable all companies TO use a low-pres-
sure system of arc lighting is q small ex-
penditure Of money. IL Is, he declared,
only q commercial question. BY spending
$4,000 or ~. 900 any arc-light company sllp-
plying one hundred lights could make its
system and service entirely safe. The
charge that the intent of this bill was to
press out othor companies than those
operating under the Edison patents.
tho speaker said. is utterly untrue.
All that is needed ls TO spend
q few thousand dollars and double
the quantity of copper wire used. The
trouble, he said. is that tho companies in
Their urgent economy put their buildings
on the outskirts of town or city, where
property Is cheap, or use some old barn,
and have to run their wires a great dis
tance into the city. forcing tho light under
heavy pressure instead of paying more
and getting suitable buildings in the
heart Of the city. where the service wires
would be shorter and the current full and
not strained.
If he came to Richmond TO supply incan-
descent lights be might use 220 volts. ~ is
the case III many other cities throughout
the country whore they have central light
ing stations. Many towns. he continued,
have no regulations whatever and any
pressure Is allowed. "Why you might es-
tablish a Ditro-glycerine factory on the
main street and nothing would be said un-
I'll there was great explosion and possibly
loss of life."
WHY THE DANGER.
This danger. Mr.. Edison observed
further on, is created not because it is
necessary, but out of economy. The
goods-wire and other parts of equip
ment-are made 10 sell and the mGnufac-
turers sell them cheap. They are turned
out with the end in view of meeting cheap
trade. Mr.. Edison said his company made
nothing 10 sell, and therefore use only the
best materials being interested as stock
holders in every plant where Their light Is
used.
Mr.. Edison said of course there is little
danger in small towns but in cities the la
hlity to injury and accident increases as
the wires multiply. This IL the trouble IN
New York, where the wires form perfect
web over the city.
no DEATH CURRENT.
Mr.. Edison suggested the following
amendment TO the bill. thinking il the best
stipulation that could be imposed:
After tho passage Of this act it shall not he
lawful for any individual or corporation, pub
lie or private, 90 generate or use or cause 10
be used for distribution TO the public d.
rectly OF by induction any electric current with
SUFFICIENT electric pressure 20 produce human
death accidentally by the direct action OF sucn
currents
The speaker said he had no patent,
either high or low pressure. Through the
persuasion of his partner he bought a
system "A few years ago, and subsequent
ly lie felt like putting cross bones and
skull (White Caps notice. on the shield.
IN SMALL PLACES.
Mr.. Ueaton inquired what would be the
cost of making the change OF wire IN towns
of 5000.
MIR. Edison, who does not hear well, in
ouired If the Senator referred to Lynch
buro. and the audience laughed heartily.
He said the cost would be about $4,000, or
perhaps 10 or II per cent on the invest
ment, and repeated that it was purely a
Commercial matter.
The change. MIR. Edison said in conclu-
sion. would only increase the sale OF cop
per wire, and would he of no benefit to
him or his company, but to the public. lie
made very simple and clear explanation
bv saving what he IS after is TO increase the
SIZE OF lne wire, 80 tIeC INC S"hiO va N'N
will have a larger body through which to
pass, thus lessening the danger.
MR. BROWN.
Mr.. Brown next addressed tho COM
mittee. and in half an hours speech gave
an interesting sketch OF his ASSOCIATION
with electrical works and an account OF
his cxperiments To prove the danger of al
ternatinc currents. This gentleman was
largely Instrumental in introducing cleo
tricitv as q mode of execution IN New
York State, and he gave an Interesting
account of the circumstances wnIch
led M 10 the adoption of the method, OF
lis opcration. and OF the difficulty which
he experienced in procuring apparatus for
tho purpose. Mr.. Brown told all about
the number of volts required TO produce
death, how he had tortured qogs a @ 20 CTaea Laa
in experiments, &c. He said IL men had
been killed by electricity, and he was toid
that man named Myers Patterson was
killed in Lynchburg III April, 1856.
THE OTHER SIDE.
Captain Garden, in few words, intro
dnced Professor Henry Morton, president
os Stevens Institute Of Technology OF
New York. and secretary of the New York
BOARD of Underwriters, who as an expert
was onnosed to the bill and to some OF the
theories advanced by Mr.. Edison.
Professor Morton spoke briefly, rapidly
and 10 the point. He concured IN Dir.
Fdison's explanations about the different
currents. except that they were not as sinl-
pie as they might be, and he drew m more {,
modest pictures. using an ordinary pump
where MIR. Edison spoke of mountain.
In theory they were fully agreed on this
point. ,,,.to,, oxn,a;ned
- fbe nmt of current strength or given
rate m of flow and the volt denotes the pres pres
sure under which the flow taxes piaIhe, he
The difference between the two systems. ne
soid to use common place illustration. IS
that in one the water runs throgghh ho1n laIeS e
nine slowly, and in the other, the oody OF
AMID passes through small pipe more
rapidly. exclamation of
the uses of the transformer and other ap-
nliances which render the use or tne ai'eis e
hating current safe He said that ths out ,ysS %,
and not where any one can come III oVI-
tact fact with them, and before, they enter tne as
house they are robbed by the converter o'
AV1'N N-'N'