The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-02-13
IN THE ELECTRICAL WORLD.

"A telephone line is being run along
the Congo railroad.
I'm Stoneham, Mass, one electric
light is 10o feet above the ground. It
is on top of pole dashed to high tree.
Tho welding of the spokes of metal
lie wheels to the hubs by means of
electricity has recently been proposed
and process patented.
In Belgium the white insulators on
telegraph poles are so frequently
broken that grayish brown ones are be-
ing used to replace them.
There is some talk of using cleo
tricity as the propelling power on the
Lewiston (Me.) street railroad If the
change is made the road will be extend
ed so as to open up large amount of
surrounding property.
"A Minnesota town recently decided
to run its own electric lighting plant.
After plant had been contracted for
and installed the town was enioincd
from making payment from the town
funds, and the plant will probably be
turned over to q private company.
The new central station at st. Pan
cfeas Vestry, London, on which work
has been begun, will have plant capa-
BILE of running 10000 lights. The dis
tributing mains from the station will
have q current carrying capacity suffi-
cient to keep $4,000 1G-candlc lamps
burning simultaneously.
Telegraph lines are subject to q
great variety of pests. In Rio, for cx-
ample, there is an orchid that incrusts
the wire and causes leakage In Japan
the large web of n spider, dripping with
rain or dew, frequently Interrupts the
traffic, while in Norway n large species
of woodpecllcr raises havoc with tho
poles.
1t is stated in commercial journals
that there has of late been a marked
tendency on the part of insurance COM
panies to reduce the rates on insurance
where the electric light is used, because
1T has been demonstrated beyond qucs-
ton that the electric light is much safer
than either artificial or natural gas
Inventive Age
The board of public works of
Jamestown, n. Y, has purchased, in
behalf of the city, n site of land on
which to erect an electric light plant.
specifications have been prepared for
plant capable of running IT'S 2,OOO-can-
die tpower arc lights. At first but 100
lamps will be put in. These will be so
scattered about the city as to furnish
light to all sections. To do this will re-
quire about "a miles of line, which
will cost $500 per mile.
by June l. 1891, it is expected that
the new building of the Southern New
England Telephone Company at Hart
ford, Ct, will be completed.4 The
switchboard in the operating room will
be of the latest multiple switch pattern.
arranged for metallic circuits, and will
have capacity for 5000 subscribers.
The distributing board will be large
enough to accommodate 1000 pairs of
wires, and wilrbe of Russia iron. The
whole building is constructed with q
view to make it almost impossible for
fire to gain any Roadway. The parti-
lions are of terra Gotta, and lumber and
flooring have protecting materials be-
tween the different layers of planlling.
The electrical range-finder is de-
signed for use in naval warfare, but if
it proves successful, it should be of
great value in times of peace as an in
strument for readily and accurately find
ing the dis lance of inaccessible objects.
WV 'SiSoSCPCo diC uScO Ut Il known
distance apart, and the operation is
based upon fact that by simple cleo
trical arrangement no current will pass
unless the two telescopes are exactly
parallel. The observer notes on one of
the telescopes the angle required to
prevent current from passing through
the instrument, and thus measures or
electrically weighs the difference in
angle of the two.
-"Unrelenting conservatism" is a
somewhat euphemistic term for the
guiding principle by which the official
duties of the town clerk of Bacup, Ian
cashire, Eng, are directed. The in
habitants of Bacup, which is n largo
manufacturing town, began to think
that, although somewhat late in the
day, they might as well be abreast tho
age in the matter of street and house
illumination. They consequently adj
dressed the town clerk on the subject
and requested him to consider the adj
visibility of taking steps with Il view
to the adoption of the modern luminant.
AT the meeting of the town council the
clerk said he had received u number
of letters IN nc electric lighting, which
he did not think it necessary to read
n. Y. Sun.