Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-03-29

he referred. ny way Ok tAcuilllhchtion'
~ fbo ltno machine. less than two feet in
i.r,tb width. aud height. that stood on
.arl of his table and, when connected
,,fi d wire that might come through a
..r.I,t.hole, would do continuously, day
and night. tue work OF two horses. lie
vY. riad that az least two establishments
e,efcI here in Richmond for the manuiac-
ture of these little giants.
wiRIs AND WIRES.
1ho Professor said that az We look
,,.rbtad on some of our streets NJ the
mao of wires above US and think OF how
1,v cover the earth with q network Of
m,.,l. we may well call this an age of wire:
Nir.s. wires. everywhere, and some OF
4h. ri AS full Of danger "a loaded bomb
sh.u. lie cave on u slide prepared for the
,urpose. sort Of exhibit of the whole
system and indicated the voltage" or
rrqrficallv the dangerOusness of each
knd Of wire. as follows:
Telephone wires low
telegraph wires. low
If,-nlafm Wircs... '''''''''''""
These three are operated by batteries,
Rrl ara perfectly harmless unless crossed
In some of the wires named below. The
DYNAMO wires in the city are approximate
is as follows:
Power %lV Volts'
sfreof-car wires. 0OO Volts
Ar.Iight 900 volts.
apa
lrrlnirsccnt intornatingl.. ..l,OuO VOits
The first two Of these would probably
moi XII - man. though the second seems
e. have been fatal 10 a horse. but would be
extremely unpleasant, TO say the least.
Ither of the last two If fully received,
the lecturer thought, would almost GER
fa'uly produce death. OF course he ex-
planned how the dangerous incandescent
slternating circuit Is converted" or trans
formed before it enters the houses of con-
sinners; but he cautioned his hearers TO
Doe exceedngly careful Of "live' DYNAMO
wires of any sort. as electricity does its
work at once and without warning.
ILKorBIc METERS.
One of the strangest things. the lecturer
aid about electricity ia that while we
must confess that we do not know what it
is we can make IL, transport 1t, use 1t, and
even measure it TO the highest degree OF
eractness. There is nothing i'll the
whole realm of nature, with the pos
sble exception of gravity, that we
can and do measure so accurately.
All tho varied manifestations or phe-
uomena attending it-such as current. volt
AGE. nductive. electrolytic, and heating
eforts-have been brought under the do
main II exact measurement; and most OF
them have had assigned TO them a special
,nt AZ known value, such as the ohm, the
volt. the coulomb, the henry, &c. Indeed,
other forces, such as heat and chemical at
traction. can best be measured by first con-
ver'ing them into electricity and then
measuring that. Some results IN this d.
rection, as that of measuring the one,hun-
drcd thousandth part OF degree OF neat,
sf. truly wonderful.
Vrctric meters. then, the lecturer
thought. may fairly be considered as equal
IN accuracy to gas-meters (which tho Pro-
fe.sor thinks quite reliable), and when an
honest company renders its bill for so
many coulombs of electricity consumed
during the month we may pay 1t with a
good conscience.
ELECTRICAL EXECUTIONS.
Professor Winston incidentally show:
cla picture of tho "electrocution
ls,cailed) Of Ken,mler and Of the
sroeTatns employed. He expressed the
bile that II IS a reliable, speedy,
and humane mode Of producing death,
ana that the uufavorable accounts OF
,h, case, as we'll as the determined OPP
position 10 the execution of the law, were
due to its supposed preJudlcial bearing
upon the interests OF the great electrical
company, whose dynamo was against their
wishes to be used to generate the fatal
current
ELECTRICAL RAILWAYS.
4 short history of the electric railway
was given, and from this 1t appeared that
really tho first important railway OF the
world was our own Richmond road. IL If
pNen called the historic road" Some
vtr,melv interesting extracts were gwen
rom % late speech Of Lieutenant 7. ).
nNracue, under whose control the ROAD was
electrically fitted up. This speech gives
sort OF behlnd-the-scenes" view OF the
oariy history of the road, and frankly says
Natif the public had known half the trials,
failures. and perplexities that the manage
Mtnt went through 10 would nave apan-
dlnel all hope of ever seeing an electric
roai successfully run But BIO persevered
and succeeded Two small items may be
mentioned. Mr.. Sprague said that ne az
ono time burned up 50 worth OF copper
cag ln brushes Now he uses carbon. lie
pa. also that he tried srty.Fre different
ttoleys before finding one TO suit exactly.
A picture Of the street-car truck WAS
shown. with the motor IN place, anu
IT, speaker explained the. reason tor
having those cog-wheels between the
motor and the car-whoels, which cog
wheels when worn a little are the
source If tho dreadful rafting noise
THAR often torrents the passengers on the
cars. One remedy has been 10 make these
cHE-Wheels OF Taw-hide, but he quoted Mr.
Sursue as predicting that IN short time
o.. these wheels with all their noise VIII
disappear from beneath the car, and the
srm4iure OF the motor will turn the car
wheels directly without any intervention
Whatever This is d great desideratum,
stas Mr. Sprague promises IT we may
hope Cor H..
ELECTRIC HEATERS.
lr-dros OF DIR. Burtons heaters, four OF
Zen were in operation in the hall under
u supervision of the genial inventor,
tAe lecturer intimated that II was not 70
bc expected that electric heating could
contend IN economy and for general heat
hg purposes with heating by fuel. 10
~ ke electricity fuel has TO burned ana
a..eam engine worked, and in this process
pDaaps nine tenths of the heat is lost.
Tie remainder has 10 be converted into
electricity aud this electricity BACK into
Ltal with some waste each time, 80 that
There Is much loss IN the process. But the
beat that Won do yet is so convenient and
30 manageable that there viii be many
cascs IA which the question OF economy
may be waived IN its favor. Elihu Thorn
son. the veteran electrician, says IN recent
speech that he expects to see electric heat
M have much wider application in the
future.
RAILWAY SYSTEMS.
Tho Professor gave diagram explaining
NE various ways of supplying current TO
the cars on electric railways. Two wires,
OF their equivalent, ere needed, OF course
one, as they cay, 10 carry the current out
and the other to return It.
The sys.eias are "a the single itrolley)
wire overhead. with the rails for the re-
turn; % double (troliey) wire overhead;
so underground wires In sort of condpit
~ ali.
The FIRST IL our system, and though OBJ
lecticnsble in several respecte v perhaps
the best At present for all but the the most
oysreIowded cities Underground wires
would 10 better but fer the iusupersbls