Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-09
THE ELECTRIC WORLD.
Possibilities of the New Welding Process and
.aea-aN. Other Applications.

Possibilities of the New Welding Process and
.z.ass.s~ Other Applications.
IwRITTES FOR THE DIsPATcH.I
One of the most striking things in con-
nection with the recent visit OF the British
Iron and Steel institute to New York, was
the fact that so large a proportion of the
time of the association was occupied with
papers and discussions on electrical topics.
One of the most important papers was that
on electrical work in mining operations, in
which it was shswn that large variety of
work was now being done in our mining
fields. Several papers treated on magnetic
processes for tho separation of metal from
crushed ore, ard the extent to which the
work has been carried on may be inferred
from the statement of one author, to the
effect that from a mine in the Lake Super
ior region II, 000 tons of concentrates had
been shipped. Perhaps the most interesting
papers was that by Prof. Elihu Thomson,
on welding by electricity, in which he
called attention to the variety and behavior
of different metals under the welding
process.
He adverted, moreover, to some new de-
velopments of the most important nature.
Thus, for instance, the electric welding
method is already largely used for making
joints at the ends of wires. An apparatus
has, in fact, been specially devised so that
the lineman can make weld joint while up
pole. In the manufacture of pipes ma
chine has been built which YIELDS sections OF
six-inch heavy pipe. There is thus no limi-
tation as to the length OF pipe which can be
III %In- fry 80 fo0f
ure Of armor-piercing shells from sections of
varied grades of steel, and without screw
joints. Considerable attention has also been
given to the department of machinery for
chain work, and q working apparatus has
been made which takes wire from reel and
turns out lengths of chain with electrically
welded links, the operation being automatic
throughout. Another very interesting de-
parture is that of heating rivets in plates by
currents passed through them and welding
| them while hot. In numerous trials 1t has
been proved that short straight sections may
| thus be used as rivets and both Yields
formed simultaneously, either as projecting
| YIELDS or as countersunk. Yet other depart
ures are an electrical brazing machine regu-
larly in use in bicycle construction and the
application of electrical methods to many
tin-silvering processes.
So
| AD W Tue ReueEd1 up-
ward tendency in the price of materials OF
nearly every description, the late reduction
in the price of incandescent lamps is some
what remarkable. When the incandescent
lamp was first introduced, its price was
fixed and remained for many years at 81.
A reduction was presently made which
| brought down the cost to So cents. Last
| year further reduction to 70 cents was
| nada and IL ia Qnnnnnopn that the
selling price of the 16 candle-power incan-
| descent lamp will in future be A cents.
W.
THE signs that good time is coming for
the storage battery car are increasing. Re-
Gently compiled figures show that there are
as many storage cars running to-day as
there were of the overhead system only two
short years ago. One OF the cities
in which the storage car has achieved
one of its greatest triumphs is
New Orleans, where it is the only substi-
| tute for horses Accounts from England
60 to show that the English electricians are
pressing closely on the heels of Americans
in the development of "the system of the
future for city Car traction" The practi-
cabiity OF working electric trains by means
of the storage batteries at present available
| still remains an open question. Some con-
|
made with results of satisfactory
character. On one track four cars have
been operated during the last four months
with cells of special railroad type. The
| road has numerous curves, and grades as
heavy as 81 per cent. These have taxed
| the cells to their utmost, the 100 cells on
each car frequently being discharged at the
rate of 45 electrical horse power. In one
| month these cars carried So 600 passengers,
| with frennant loads of 100 nassenOarq IN q
car. The batteries have made several runs
of 63 miles with a single charge under
these conditions, thus giving good indica-
| tion of their increased efficiency where the
conditions are more favorable as to grades
| and curves.
~.
SOME idea of the almost unlimited field
which electricians now find before them
may be gathered from the advice given by
Instructor Shepardson, of the electrical en-
gineering department OF Cornell University,
to the senior electrical association, on SOP
portunitles Open to Technical Graduate"
| He recommended graduates of electrical
schools not to Immediately enter some large
construction shop, but rather to strike out
in some undeveloped field. Among such
| fields of work he mentioned the following:
Electric metallurgy, electroplating appli-
ances, electricity as applied to chemistry,
the simplifcation of the dynamo, electricity
from heat improvement of the arc lamp
as to carbon efficiency, electric car
! lighting, decrease of weight of storage
batteries, far-seeing by electricity, the
telephone, the electrical utilization of
the energy of the tides, animalism electricity
or;personal magnetism, Acknowledgements,
utilization of atmospheric electricity and
earth currents, improvement of gaslighting
! apparatus, constant current dynamo regu-
later, an electric car truck in which the
armatures may revolve whether the car is
running or standing still, thus allowing che
car to stop promptly when going down hill,
as well as to start easily; a method OF con-
Meeting the armature to the wheels, SO as to
dispense with gears and allow the armature
to revolve in the same direction, whichever
way the car is stunning; trolley wheel COM
bining good fabrication with conductivity,
the reduction of loss of energy when going
around curves, lightning arresters for cars
and the getting rid of magnetism within
electric cars.
People Who Don't Count.