Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-05-30
MANY MARvELS
That Fascinate Thousands Of
Worlds Fair Visitors.
Wonders of Electricity Both in Spec
tacuIar and Practical Forms.


Nothing catches the eye Of the multitude
iks action. The people love beauty, and
hey are fascinated with vastness or mani
sestation Of great power, but it il move
ment that seems TO appeal most to them,
lay in and day out. We see that in the
lair here. Wherever an exhibit has action
n il there crowd of people will always
oe found standing about in layers four or
i've thick, craning their necks to see over
Zach others shoulders. For this reason
the gondolas and electric launches ON the
laSoons and basins are always q center of
interest. Artists who visit the fair say it
is capital place for studies, not only of
character on account Of the cosmopolitan
nature of the crowds, but because of the
opportunity afforded to study movement
in . thousand ways. have seen scores of
artists sketching the gondoliers as they go
polling their craft about the waters, put
ting their bodies into all sorts of attitudes
and positions.
The amateur photographers find the
gondoliers and all the other spectacles
here, whether still or moving, greatly to
their liking. A great many cameras ap-
pear on the grounds, despite the rule
which requires the payment Of q for each
instrument. The photographers say they
get their moneys worth even at this price,
but they also think the exposition would
have protected its Photographic conces-
sionaire quite as well without the q fee.
For the management will not admit to
tb de Hxyifh a In tans
than four by five, and q lens Of that small
ness will not produce = picture likely to
have any commercial value or to interfere
with the business of the concessionaire at
all. Besides. the amateurs are frank
enough to admit what is probably true
that not one picture IN thousand taken
by them would be worth selling, no matter
what its size. The & fee is collected just
the same, and few days ago ! saw the
Duke of Veragua and his son stopped at
the gate and turned back because the
young man had under his coat detective
camera. The sharp-eyed gatekeeper had
detective camera in his eye, and when
he spied the box the descendants of Co
lumbus were sent back to pay over their
81 or leave the camera outside the gates.
NO Ou5 uuUtESLdItlS tuo Nhluo VI dCllOH
better than the electrical exhibitors. The
spectacularism Of electricity is being
worked up to great pitch here. The
successful devices are those which have
movement in them. For instance, there
is the homemade lightning which u al
ways surrounded by crowd Of visitors in
the southeast corner Of the Electrical
building. The bolt starts at the base of n
.S, hl,,n
lamps, runs to the top Of that and thence
out along the four outstretched arms
made to represent the forks Of a stroke of
natures voltage. People wonder how the
beautiful eject is produced, but 1t really
is very simple process as all may see by
looking down u skylight like enclosure
near by.
1t is somewhat like looking down in a
well, only instead of water and the old
oaken bucket that hangs there you per-
ceve series of cylinders with little levers
touching their surface, a good deal like
the cylinders employed in q music box.
The cylinders are kept in motion all the
time, and the innumerable teeth standing
out from their peripheries engage the
levers in a regular series. one after an
other As each lever is touched an cleo
trical circuit is opened and the current
turned on eight lamps on the pillar or
along the outstretched forks Of the light
ming stroke. In the fraction of "a second
this circuit is closed, as the lever is olsen
gagged, and another is opened by the tooth
coming in contact with the next lever of
the series. In this way the manifestation
Of the current in the beautiful lights is
made absolutely synchronous throughout
the corresponding parts OF the device.
That is to say. the current is turned on at
che end Of one arm, for instance, at the
precise instant which shows it is on at the
end Of another. 1t could not be otherwise,
for the lamps which light the ends Of the
four arms are on the same circuit. So it
is with all corresponding positions through
out the construction. The wheels of the
music box. which in reality is nothing but
a continuously moving switchboard, send
the lightning coursing up the pillar and
along the arms with the regularity Of the
ticking of clock.
This device is fascinating because it has
Ection, and for the additional reason that
It seems like trick of legerdemain. 1t
savors strongly Of magic. Even more
beautiful, though not tquite so picturesque.
are the globes of fire which hang at the
ends of the lightning forks. As the cur
rent runs out 1t appears to enter the balls,
which are constantly revolving, and set
them aflre now with red flames, now with
blue and finally with rapidly changing
colors and prisnatic hues. This is also a
very simple construction. 1t is another
instance Of the multiplication of circuits,
to be turned on in sequence by an auto
matic switchboard. The forkcd lightning
aud the revolving globes Of changing
lights are, as they deserve to be, among
the most popular Of all the many striking
electrical devices in the exposition
A thousand persons will look at this
spectacular, MOVING disDlay where one
| will take the trouble to stop and examin,
some of the more wonderful and reall,
! useful forms in which the electrical powe
| is now being utilized, For instance, few
| visitors care to inform themselves concern
| ing the uses OF the iron machines whicl
I look unlike any other machine that eve
! was, but which evidently have somethin,
| to do with electricity The few who stol
to inquire learn that a revolution in min
| ing methods is taking place through tn
| in'roductiono of electricity. 1t Is about tn
latest of the constant succession OF net
triumphs which this force and the mag
clans who use it are making in the indu.
trial world. Here is an electrical locome
tive, designed for use under ground. /
may be operated miles from the open all
giving off no gas or smoke, and requirin
neither water, draft nor fuel. The powe
isconveyed to it by what corresponds t
the well known trolley. BY its side is
powerful blower, also for use unde
| ground. A long distance from the mont