Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-06
140 MILES AN HOUR,
At That Speed Locomotive Transit
Should Cost Nine Times as Much
as by Electricity.
The PROBLEM OF THE TIMES
Is the HarneSSing Of the Current to Rail-
road Service In Practical and
Economical Way.
POWER FOR STATIONARY PURPOSE S
What Has Been Learned From the Pseudo-Eyperi.
mental Plant at LauiTen.
The PROBLEM OF THE TIMES
POWER FOR STATIONARY PURPOSE S
What Has Been Learned From the PseudoEyperi.
mental Plant at LaufTen.
rwRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH,

rNvRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.I
For more than 80 years men of science
have known that electricity meant mechan-
ical power, brilliant light, or intense heat,
as its user chose. Why, then, was this Won
derful servant kept until about Is years ago
Al little else than transmitting messages and
performing small tasks in electro-plating?
Beeause, the reply is, its wages had to be
paid, not in the Goals, wherewith steam was
well content, but in an equal weight of zinc,
costing 40 to so times as much. Before the
great career of the electric current cou Id
fairly dawn, it was necessary that the vol
taic battery be superseded by a coal-con-
suming eontrivance,
This demand was satisfied in the invention
oi the dynamo which beginning as a toy
ike machine, most wasteful in operation,
has gradually been enlarged and improved
until to-day, when, converting the power of
the mightiest steam engine into electricity,
It has an efficiency as high as 80 per cent.
Every successive advance in the design and
operation of the steam engine, and every
economy in the use of water power, directly
Tend to cheaper the electric current and
multiply its applications
The Possibilities of the Future.
How far, then, is the electric motor likely
. supplant other sources of power? What
promise has it for the relief of domestic
irudgery? Applied TO traction may we ex-
0ect to see it rival the locomotive? That
electricity can be transmitted long distances
Instantly, and almost without loss, is a
T.l1
Ehich has direct bearing on these ques-
ions The telegraph, with which we have
50 long been familiar, is after all but the
electrical conveyance of motion. Led into
he wire by the transmitter, the current
swiftly moves at the other end of the line
he armature of q receiving instrument,
treating the sounds which the operator in
.erTrets as a dispatch Increase the size of
he vibrating iron bar of the receiver to that
The armature in an electric motor, and its
-ore5 can be made to drive the heaviest ma
hinery. To have work done by steam or
Impressed air at a mile from the fan or
-omnressor, is not only to incur enormous
sNpeuse for piping, but also to suffer serious
0>s otpower Contrast this with electrical
Eansmlssion.
Last summer, at Frankfort on the-Main,
electric current estimated at 800 horse
'ower was brought all the way from
ya,ertall at Lautfen, 109 miles off, with a
.iminution of but 2S per cent. To reach
his extraordinary result special pains were
AIKEN in insulating the wires, which were
trung on poles. In each insulator were
teep grooves filed with oil, much more
tective non-conductor than any solid SUBJ
lance, and in these grooves the wires Law.
Wires No Larger Than Telegraph Wires.
As the pressure of the current was ex-
RENE, varying from 16 GOO to 10000 volts,
he insulation had to be as nearly perfect as
rOsslble. What so high pressure signifies
an be understood when We remember that
hat on the trolley wires of electric RAILWAYS
limited TO 500 volts, higher pressure be-
ng deemed dangerous to life The enor-
nous voltage used by the German electri-
Ians was employed for very good reason.
Apart from the incidental losses against
ThIch thorough insulation insures a cur
ent, the greater its voltage the lighter the
yire sutiicing as conductor, just as the
igher a waterfall the smaller the duct
eeessary TO yield horse power. Each of
he three wires carrying the current from
.autfen TO Frankfort was somewhat less
han one-sixth of an inch in diameter about
he thickness of common telegraph wire.
In generating the current, dynamos of
ovel and effective design were in harness
Iautten, and the motors at the Frankfort
nd Of the line were their counterparts
As poured forth by the dvnamos, the cur
eut had a pressure of only 30 VOLTS to be
Intensified for transmission it took its way
through a transformer sealed in a tank
He'd with insulating oil. A transformer,
hen reversed, can reduce voltage as well
eKalt 1t, and that application was made
+ il at Frankfort, where the electricity as
uppEed to motors and incandescent lamps
8d pressure of 100 volts.
The Limit of Distance.
In this remarkable achievement, the Ger
IAN electricians have shown what is expert |
l-nUallv possible rather than commercially |
-5cticable. For the transmission of cur |
-uts Of 10000 volts 1t Will not do to relv on /
ire wires, carried on poles, protected SIM |
.v by painted skull and cross bones; |
GSyly underground conduits must be pro- |
lIed, and this OF necessity shortens the |
suEe over which electricity from a water |
ID can be carried in competition with |
eetricity generated by steam. This limit /
III probably be all the way from 80 to 60 i
lies, a distance within which several |
.merican cities have large water powers
inning 10 waste. In utilizing these powers
lectricity has the field to itself Niagara
alls very soon will be impressed into send
Ig powerful current to Buffalo, % miles
way. A project to send part of this cur
mt to Chicago during the Exhibition next
ear is under discussion.
Whether produced by waterfall or a
cam engine, electricity, besides being the
tost desirable form of motive power, can
the cheapest we'll Its cost depends
pon the scale of operations. Where l, 600
orse power is got by steam, the cost at the
ngIne room is cent per horse power per
our; if only 100 horse, the cost rises to
.nts. With smaller powers the outlay in
eases SO much proportionately that put
ny electricity on tap from large reser-
cir bestows an inestimable boon on users of
nall machinery. Here, for instance, is a
dior with half dozen sewing machines
his shop: next door a cabinet-maker has
the or two and a circular saw; across
lc street is ieweler with drills and
urnishers at work. each of these trades
.so is provided with an electric motor,
hich, If room be scant, can be hung from
le ceiling.
The Advantages for Light Work.
And 50 il goes throughout the city; every
nau workshop is independent of engine
5ilgr and fire; it need not have, as when
am power is employed, apertures in its
glls Tor flying belts-apertures through
hicli destructive flame may pass. The
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