Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-11-28
WIZARD EDISON TALKS.
HE WILL REVOLUTlONlZE RAILWAYS
BY ELECTRICITY.

of ClGC MIL ! v.
The Subtle Current to Replace Steam.
Electric Mining Success Fortune,
I'm Poor Iron Ore-A Big Thing for the
Chicago Fair.
Thomas A. Edison has been talking to
New York reporter, who gives the in.
ventor's latest utterances in the World
The wizard" claims to have solved an
other great problem-that of the cheap
and safe application of electricity to rail.
way traction. The scientific world will
not doubt Edisons claims. 1t will wait
to see the result.
II was the first man in the United
States, you know, to build an electric
railroad, says Edison. built one thre.
miles long at Menlo Park in 1880. !
took Mr.. Willard over the road at the rate
OF 40 miles an hour. We ran so fast tina,
he wanted to walk back. My idea the1
was to put the system on large steaE,
roads, but was little too far ahead o:
the times. They are evidently going to
come to it now, however.
Il can take the Pennsylvania Railroad
for instance, between Jersey City and
Philadelphia, and I can begin by putin,
one electric train on it, and they can g
on running steam, too, and gradually re.
place steam by electricity without any
trouble at all. You can go any speed
you want to with electric trains. 1t is
only limited by the limit of the cohesion
of the steel. There are no other limita,
tiOns to electric as there are to steam 10,
comotives.
Il am building large electrical loco
motive, several hundred horsepower,
said Mr.. Edison, "and have devised
system Of conduction without trolley for
big railroad for Henry Willard. i
small section has been laid. An elec.
trical locomotive is much more econom
ical than steam one. A steam locomo.
tive is not economical by reason of the
conditions it has to work under. That.
the trouble with it, whereas take one OF
these triple expansion engines on a solo
foundation, with all the economical ap.
pliances, and the result is you can get
horsepower delivered on a train ir
motion for one-third the cost that you
can do it direct with steam loco
motive. Then you have every advantage
in an electric locomotive. Instead OF
running train of six coaches every two
hours, split it up. Make it two coaches
and run it oftener. They are going tc
put this locomotive on some road in
Chicago-between Chicago and Milwau
kee. think "
as electrical mining making prog
ress?'
Yes" said the wizard enthusiastic
ally. "We have invaded New York
State. We have leased from the Read
ing Railroad the great ore deposits of the
Canopus Valley, near Peekskill. We
have purchased from Senator Jones, OF
Nevada, small railroad, six miles long,
running up the valley. We are extend
ing it seven miles and are building con-
centrating works for purifying by cleo
tricity the large bodies of poor iron ore
The Reading Railroad got that property +
great many years ago and never did any
thing with it. The ore is of poor grade.
but there is an enormous deposit of it
one of the most continued in the country
Though it is too low in grade to pay fo;
working it direct, by working it through
our process We'll make it all right. Tho
company is called the New York Concen-
trating Company Then there is the
New Jersey and Pennsylvania Concen
trating Company, who operate at Ogden
N. j.
"This electric mining is my biggest
scheme. 1t is tremendous change in
the methods of getting iron ore. 1t is
far reaching. Since I started in that
business eight different companies have
gone into it. They all hooted at it at
first, but they are finding out its impor-
tance. 1t is revolution, that is what it
is. A great many of the veins in New
Jersey pass through rock that is impreg
mated with iron on both sides of the vein
l struck the idea of not working the
veins, but of blasting down the whole
mountain and with powerful machinery
crushing the matter up and getting the
ore out by magnetism"
The conversation switched off to the
kinetograph-that marvel which is to re
produce accurately both scenes anG
sounds-the figure of an orator in action.
and with the action the words that ac
companied it.
81 think we'll have the kinetograph
through in time for the Worlds Fair
said its inventor. "That's what l am
working on it for. We're making one
with larger picture. The first XII
netograph photographed quarter
of an inch square, and the picture
was enlarged on a screen. Now we're
making it an inch square so as to bring
out the fine details. The difficulty OF
taking 46 photographs an inch square in
second, instead of 46 only quarter OF
an inch square. is great. You see, the
apparatus now has to revolve with fom
times greater speed-46 times in a second
and that spcck of time includes stop
ping the film, taking the photograph.
closing it up and starting again. Eight.
tenths of the time it has to be stopped
1t is moving only twotenths of 10th Oh
a second. You see, it is enormously
rapid. But we are doing pretty well
with it, We want to bring out in life
size man making speech.