Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1892-04-28
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY
INTERESTING MATTERS FROM
THE FIELD OE SCIENCE,
The Woodbridge Gun--Wood Bent
Like Wire New Departure in
Electric TraCti-
New Departure In Electric Trac-
ton,

! New Departure In Electric Trac-
| ton.
A system OF electric traction, which
embodies new application OF meth
DDS at present in use, was recently
tested at Coney Island. The inven-
tor is colored man. The claim is
made for this system, that it is not
the trolley, nor the storage battery,
nor the conduit, but an entirely
original method OF overcoming the
| difficulties met with in all. AS
matter OF fact, has many points in
common with the last named sys-
| TEN.
Iron blocks or "heads' placed
along the track project about three
! quarters OF an inch above the sur
face OF the street, and are connected
by wire which runs underground to a
distributing station near by. The
distributing stations are built in the
form OF lampposts, and each one
has from twelve to twenty
batteries Each battery is
connected with q separate head
and SO arranged that it only can sup
ply current ut the time. The car is
supplied with copper brushes which
pass over the heads and thus cause
the current to be transmitted. An
/ excellent feature OF the System is that
when the front brush strikes a head,
the rear brush is Just leaving one,
/ thus closing & current in each. There
I are no exposed wires ant no portion
OF the line is alive except that beneath
! the car. A block or arrangement OF
any portion OF the road does not al
feet any other part OF the line. The
| system OF employing distributing sta
| lions. located a block apart, prefer
ably in the form OF lamp posts, pro-
vides means for lighting the streets,
or supplying electric lights along the
line OF the road without having eX
posed wires at any point.
THE ELECTRO LIGHT IN UNIVERSAL USE.
Tho electric light, perfect as it is,
would know no rival We're its cost
! brought within an easily feasible limit.
Increase in its popularity and reduc-
ton in its price have, it is true, gone
! hand in hand from the day OF its in
PRODUCTION. Yet the consumption of
the electric light is but q small frac-
ton OF what it can be made to be. In
New York City, for example, the lead
ing electric light company gained 20
per cent. last year in It's aggregate OF
customers, yet at the end OF the
twelvemonth their number was only
1915. A tair estimate OF the grand
total OF electric consumers in the me-
tropolis, including patrons of other
companies and users ofisolated plants
would be 5000. What is this number
compared to the city's population?
What would 5000 consumers ofwater
have to pay were the mains Of Croton
laid solely for their benefit? So the
query suggests itself. What reduction
in price would be practicable were cleo
trio light, like water, provided
in every house in New York?
The question is pertinent at
this time, when electricians are
agreed that the first experimental
stage OF their art has closed, leaving
the essentials in production and dis
tribution at the point OF practical
perfection. During the years of the
immediate future progress lies in
bringing to every mans door the
Protcus, which is light, motive power,
heat, or chemical energy, asits master
wills.