Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-13
A DAYLIGHT AURORA
Knocks Out the Telegraph and Gable
Lines for Several Hours
FROM CHICAGO TO GREAT BRITAIN.
A Remarkable Display That Was Invisible
in the Sunlight.
FREAKS OF THE CURRENT ON THE WIRES

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE pIsPATCH1
NEW YORK, Aug. 12-It will be news to
most folks to hear that there was a very re-
| markable and widespread display of the
aurora borealis to-day. But what was not
known by the general public about the mat
ter was more than made up for by the exas-
peraIing amount of knowledge the electri-
clans and telegraph operators had of it. In
this case it was a display of auroral force
without any scenic effects.
The atmosphere of the whole country.
north, east, south and west of the North
Atlantic, and even as far over as Great
Britain, was very heavily charged with
electricity, and for an hour in the middle
of the day all efforts to telegraph. by either
arial, underground, or submarine circuit,
were vain and vexation of spirit. On the
occasion of the last auroral disturbance. on
July 16 last, 1t was noted by the
electricians an6 told by THE DISPATCH
that the amount of electrical force in the
atmosphere was very much greater during
the day, between the hours of II and p.
NJ, than at night There was wondrous
celestial spectacle at night on that date, but
the auroral force was not felt nearly SO
much then as during the day.
The auroral disturbances to-day were very
great, but the footlights of the sun killed
the red and blue fire of the aurora up in the
flies In the big Western Union Office, at
1876 Broadway, the aurora practically
"busted" every wire running out of
the Office, for a longer or shorter period
between noon and o'clock in the evening.
"We have been very much bothered bv the
auroral force all the afternoon" said Man.
ager Brennan, "and in some particulars to-
DAVIS disturbance has been more remark
able than any that have known. Usually
it's effects are felt only on the circuits rum
ming north; the further north the greater
the interruption. But to-day we felt it on
circuits running in every direction, north,
south, east and west. We were as much
bothered on the New Orleans circuits as on
Montreal
cat times every circuit in the Office was
useless. The auroral force of electricity
was so strong that we were occasionally
able to work some circuits, as Boston and
Montreal, for several minutes by that force
alone and without our batteries This, of
course, was only temporary, because the
force Of the current is so variable, and it
reverses from positive to negative so rapid
ly. that we could do nothing praetiea. either
with it or with our batteries. The greatest
we were hardly clear of trouble by 5
o'clock"
Strong Enough to Stop Work.
'It was not SO strong at any time as the
display of July 16, but it was strong enough
to stop us working ard exasperate every
one generally. We would get let up for a
few minutes and would get to work, when
suddenly the aurora would swoop down and
bust everything sky-high. By 6 o'clock, |
however, we seemed to be pretty clear Of |
it."
The Atlantic cables felt the auroral dis |
turbance as much as the land lines, and it is |
on the delicate instruments of the cable |
circuits that the effects of these mysterious |
electrical disturbances are most felt and |
can be more Interestingly observed The |
trouble began about 1880 P. NJ, New York
time, to-day. The siphon OF the recorder"
instrument-really delicate galvanom-
eter needle was steadily DETECTED |
far from the zero line and pulled by the
auroral force away beyond any point to
which the ordinary current of the cable cir
cult ever draws it. 1t would remain so de- |
fected for minute or so, slowly return to
zero, and then travel over into the opposite
direction. The reversals, the strength, and
the durat1ons of the auroral currents could
thus be most clearly observed.
All TIL, Wires Knocked Out
All the cables, Commercial and Western
Union, running under the sea from hers to
Nova Scotia, felt the aurora. At times it
was found possible to operate the land cir
cults from here to Rockport, Mass, with
the auroral current alone.
eve were bothered a great deal for a
whole hour, from 1850 to 1:5O p NJ" said
Smart, of the Commercial
Cable Company, ''but it was worse during
the first half hour. The trouble was Just as
bad on the long cable, from Nova Scotia to
Ireland, as on the cables wholly on this
,ide."
The cables of the Western Union from
Nova Scotia to Penzanee were equally af-
fected and interrupted, and it was reported
from Great Britain that the telegraph cir
cults over there were very much disturbed
by auroral currents This would indicate
that the auroral forces existed over an i'm
nense area.
Chicago was laid out in all directions to
'ome extent, at times wholly interrupted,
md it is long reach from Chicago to
England, but the aurora, seemed to stretch
t. The thunderstorms which have bothered
he land circuits so much in the past week
lave not troubled the cables at all. 1t is
very rare that such electric storms have any
,ffect on submarine cables