Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-11
What the Figures on Electrical Prog
ress Last Year Show.
A EEW PROCESS OF AGING WINE.
Farmers Find Late Inventions Of Great
Advantage to Them.
CABLE VERSUS TROLLEY FOE CARS
RRRPARzD yoR THE prspArcH.I

to which advances have been made in their
field of work. They find it to have been q
year marked not so much by new startling
inventions as by multitude of minor i'm
provements and by an extraordinary out
burst Of activity in the electric power field.
In other words, the development of 1890 was
largely industrial.
Perhaps in its way the most important
scientific advance has been the determines
tion of new unit, that Of self-induction,
| called the Henry, after Prof Joseph Henry,
| the name of this unit and its size being al
most wholly due to the efforts of Prof
Francis B. Crocker, of Columbia College,
who thought it was about time that Amer
lea, the "home Of electricity" should name
one of the new electrical units in the fashion
which has already given us the volt, after
Volta, the ohm after the German physicist
the ampere after the French savant, the
Joule, the watt and the farad after the
English philosopher, the English inventor
and the immortal Faraday. Accurate
mea surements are always the mark of re-
fnement and perfection in any art, and
ele lectricians are inclined to regard their
units as signs of the fact that electricity has
won its place among the great scientific and
engineering professions, and is no longer
the toy Of the amateur, the tool of the
charlatan or the pet theme Of the Wall
street promoter.
Lights, Motors and Railways.
Looking at the practical advances of cleo
| tricity, it is found that they exhibit them
selves chiefly in electric lighting. electric
| unofnr ruork and o1aofrio
during the past year has been the chief
field Of electric lighting activity, and, at a
recent meeting there of electricians, con-
gratulations were exchanged upon the fact
that London was ahead, leaving New York
behind in the introduction Of electric light.
| The rate of increase in London at the pres
ent time is 1000 new lamps installed per
week; but still New YORK is holding its own
bravely, to say nothing of its understudy,
Brooklyn, and its suburbs, New Jersey and
Connecticut
But when il comes to electric power and
electric railways, it is America first and the
| other part of the world nowhere. New York
| alone has !, 900 electric motors, or more than
all England together, and little New Eng
land can boast as many electric railways az
the whole of Europe, with few to spare.
Some idea of what America is doing in elec-
| trio railway work may be found from the
| papers specially devoted to such work shows
no fewer than 418 towns and cities that have
either put in such roads or are now doing 80.
| As there are about ], 900 street railways in
| America, it Is evident that already 80 per
cent of them have cast a vote for the new
SILENT irresistible motive power. One need
not wonder that Mr.. Tom Lowry, of Mime
| apolis, q city that has already IA electric
roads through his work, in his presidential
Il IL = 49, lo. - L.
Street Railway Association, said he believed
it would be the last meeting at which they
would discuss the horse az Q factor in street
railway service.
The Financial Depression.
Moreover, electricity means economy in
this field, and hence the financial depression
and stringency that have been q drawback
in other industrial departments have act
| ually been Q stimulus in this. The outlook
for 1891 to the electrical engineer is bright
one, and all his productive agencies will be
taxed to meet the demand for electric light
electric power, electric heat, electric metal
working, electric mining and host Of other
things not dreamed of in 1881.
In many places in this country where
cable lines have been installed, it has been
found that electricity offers still better sys-
i tenn of traction. One of the latest instances
| of this is afforded in Michigan, where a
million-dollar cable system is about to be
superseded by electric lines It is stated
| that about IA miles of cable road will shortly
be abandoned, the cable cars being replaced
| by electric cars, and overhead wires being
strung above the present cable tracks.
Mention has been recently made of lamp
which had done duty for II, SOL hours, and
of which, when 1t was taken from its holder,
the flament was unbroken. T.. Bailey, in
speaking few DAYS ago before the English
Society of Arts, directed particular stten-
ton to the importance of good work in the
manufacture of incardescent lamps He
insisted on the advantages of keeping
record of lamps which could be easily done.
Improving Wine by Electricity.
During the last two years attempts have
been made from time to time in Italy to age
wine by electricity. Although these exper-
iments have in almost every case resulted
satisfactorily, they have not been carried on
on such o systematic scale as to afford rell-
able and conclusive data as to the value of
the new process. This want has, however,
been in q great measure supplied by course
Of operations which have been continued for
the past II months at Berey, France. Here
the method of treating wine by electricity
has been exclusively tested and pro-
nounced satisfactory by competent suthori-
ties. The wine treated is said to be mark
edly improved in "keeping" qualities. Il
is passed through a small tube containing q
series Of silver discs connected to the poles
Of 25 volt alternator. The liquid is thus
traversed BY rapidly alternating current,
which il believed to destroy the ferment
The experimental plant is capsbles of
treating "a gallons Of wine per hour. The
process has been tried on wines of all kinds,
and 1t is stated thar the results have been
most marked with the light Algerian wines,
whose bad keeping" qualities have hitherto
prevented their expectation. The attention
of Californian wine growers has been drawn
to this process, and it is understood that
steps will shortly be taken to determine its
value for the treatment of wines grown in
this country.
Farming By Electricity.
The proprietor Of numerous small farms
in the Western Pyrenees, having an area
altogether Of nearly 1,500 acres, has for
some time past been utilizing neighborlng
stream for electric lighting purposes. He
has now applied electric power to the work.
ing Of winserushing plant. Besides pro-
viding the power for lifting and driving
purposes, electricity is made to work the
pumps for irrigating the vines. One
hundred and eight 16candle power lamps
are distributed all over the farms, and the
area which they cover may be judged from
the fact that the length Of telephone wire
connecting the buildings is So miles.
Another notable application of electricity
to agricultural purposes has been made In
Hungary, where, on large farms, grain il
threshed out by night by means Of movable
light apparatus, driven by the locomotive