Arizona republican., 1890-07-06
SUPPLANTING STEAM. The Electric Motor Has Struck a Rattling Pace. A Revolution of Limitless Extent in Manufacture. A Glance at the Work the Baby Giant Is Now Doing in the
 United States.
From the New York Sun.l


 The advance made by electrical science and application during the last few years has been so phenomenal that it is hard to define it's extent, and it is only when an attempt is made to follow the developments in any particular branch that an approximate idea of its mighty progress as whole and its far. reaching and overwhelming influence in the industrial world can be arrived at
 From an investigation of the field alone, that of the electric motor, it at once becomes apparent that revelation of limitless 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 devised for the trans. mission and transformation of energy in a trustworthy and economical manner for useful work.
 ALREADY A VAST ENTERPRISE.
 It is interesting to examine the differ. ent ways in which this superiority is shown, and in doing so it is advisable tc eliminate from more than passing consideration the electric motor as applied to railroads and to direc; attention mainly to the character and mission of stationary motors.
 It is nevertheless true that the use of the electric motor for transportation purposes is an industrial one. Some idea ot the extent to which it has already busted the horse and come into competi. ton with the steam engine, the cable and the dummy engine may be drawn from the fact that at the present time there are over 250 electric roads in this country, running or under contract, with over ,5OO miles of track and probably 2,5OO cars. These roads are already carrying between two and three hundred million passengers year. They do this at an economy of forty to fifty per cent as compared with horses, and, moreover have the remarkable advantage o building up traffic at greater rate and ot developing and enhancing in value new residential districts. Incredible a: It may seem, also, to those who have moi watched the course of events, several o the shorter steam roads of the country are now negotiating for electrical equip ments, and probably before this articl, appears in print contracts will have beer signed for roads fifteen to twenty mile, long. It is expected by electrica engineers that during 1891 several sucl roads will be built and equipped.
 TT FILLS AN INDUSTRIAL WANT.
 Putting aside this field, however attention may be confined to the use O the electric motor for stationary poweI purposes. It is quite possible tha several of those who read these line. may never have seen an electric motor yet 1t is none the less true that there ar' today already in operation in thi' country over 30,O00 electric motors O various sizes, engaged in an endless variety of occupations. One company building motors reports that it. machines are now employed in nearly 200 distinct industries, and that new uses are found daily. This development has been seen almost entirely within thu last three years. From 1880 up to 188, electrical engineers and contractors haC given their attention mainly to tn, installation of electric lighting plants il American towns and cities, with thu result that there were some 1, 200 centra stations in operation supplying the arc light or the incandescent light, anC sometimes both. A great many of thes, stations paid well from the start, but il was soon found out that the lighting business was after all limited one tha is, it could only be carried on during tn, hours of darkness, SO that valuable plant often lay idle sixteen or eighteen hours out of the twenty-four.
 ITS WONDERFUL ADAPTABILITY.
 Yet the current which such plan could generate would lend itself a, readily to driving an electric motor al to furnishing light in lamp, and tn, same circuit that conveyed it to tn, lamps would also convey it to the motors. It was this fact that gave { great stimulus to the electric motor industry about three years ago, and led to the perfecting of what had theretofor, been crude and cumbersome piece o mechanism. As is now generally knowI the electric motor has but one moving part, the revolving armature, and by means of pulley placed at the end o the armature shaft it's power can be applied to any piece of apparatus or machinery known to the arts. But UT to 1886 nearly all the electric motors had been badly designed and poorly built and the current that should have been diverted into power was simply wasted in developing heat, so that the machines rapidly burnt out and otherwise became useless, and were altogether toe expensive to run. At the present time however, there are 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 we'll as in the larger is the highest that has yet been attained by any piece of power transmission machinery.
 THE MOTOR READY FOR INSTANT WORK
 Thus an electric motor, or one-half oI 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 . steam engine of one quarter or one-half horse power to give anything but small return 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 connecting it with the central station it is practically ready that minutp for work A n that is necessary is the turning of a switch