The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-09-19
IN THE ELECTRICAL WORLD.

-Ihe Westinghouse company mas
perfected dynamo which automatical-
~ produces just the amount of current
needed for any number of lights with
in the capacity of the machine.
The telegraph and telephone lines
of Switzerland are owned and operated
by the government. There are 1,411
telegraph offices and IL, 595 telephone
offices. The profits derived from them
amount to more than $3.50, 600 yearly.
"A party of eastern capitalists is
visiting the Grand canyon of Colorado
river to investigate the feasibility of
laying an electric cable 500 miles along
the river, with which to drive small
boats through the Black Canyon and
other scenic points.
"A western inventor is about to take
out patent on process for prodTc-
ing aluminium from its oxide, at cost
much below that of any present cleo
trical process. 1t is said that by the
new process aluminium can be put on
the market at price below that of cop
per, bulk for bulk.
Some 200 buses of the London Gen
eral Omnibus Company have been fitted
with accumu1ators for the purpose Of
running electric lights at night. Only
one lamp of six-candle power is put
under the center of each bus roof, and
the cost of equipping and running each
bus is about s12 year.
The method adopted by an electric
lighting company of London in laying
their connections consists of copper
strips conducted along their entire sys-
tenn in culverts under ground. A ter
rier has been trained to do this work,
and carries the electric wires through
the culverts with the skill of an expe-
rienced workman.
An English medical journal sug-
gests that the action of electricity on
lead water pipes may sufficiently inn
pregnate the water with lead to cause
poisoning. Here is chance for some
experiments with view to determin-
ing whether water is thus affected, or
not, under the conditions named. If it
is, it might result in cases of serious ILL
ness, the cause of which ordinarily
would be difficult to determine.
Artificial miniature auroras of the
borealis variety have been produced by
both De la Rive, the French savant,
and Lenstrom, the Swedish astrono-
mer. In Prof. Lenstrom's experiments,
which were made in Finland, the peak
of high mountain was surrounded
with coil of wire, pointed at intervals
with tin nibs. The wire was then
charged with electricity, whereupon a
brilliant aurora appeared above the
mountain, in which spectroscopic an
alysis revealed the greenish-yellow
rays so characteristic in natures dis
play of northern lights"
"A German professor, Prof. Braun,
has discovered that if spiral of wire
be elongated mechanically a current
will be produced in it. The creation of
the current is not due to magnetic or
thermo-electric effects, but is based
upon the fact that the bending of a
wire generates a current in it. The
current generated in left-handed
spiral has been proven by experiments
to move in direction opposite to that
of current developed in right-hand-
best for making experiments in this di-
rection.
1t is noteworthy fact that post
mortem examinations have been held
on the bodies of electrocuted criminals
in a very short time after they were
shocked. Who. among us all can posi-
lively and certainly declare whether
1.fo hoe 1nf h.
through it of an electric current? A
shock of 1000 volts will undoubtedly
kill some men. and may only stun
others. Is there a competent physician
who will state upon his honor that the
criminals who have been electrocuted
in New York state were dead when
they were carried from the CHAIR
Electrical Review
The projectors of the $1,000, 900
interior canal, to be built parallel to
the coast of California, count on the
power produced by the flow of the
water from the level of the higher
locks to the lower to do great things
in the way of furnishing the territory
opened by the canal with electric light
IL
be 175 miles long and will necessitate
series of immense locks The surplus
water will be first used to operate cleo
trio generating plants, and will then
be used for the purposes of irrigation.
From the sale of the electricity the
projectors count upon an income which
will do much to help pay interest on
the sum investeda and help meet ex-
penses. The canal, as planned, will
run from Suisun bay, little to the
northeast of San Francisco, in a south
easternly direction down the San Joa-
quin valley to Tulare lake and then on
to Bakersfield. Several capitalists have
taken enough interest in the scheme to
look into it, but thus far the money
needed for constructing the canal has
not been raised.
Art at Home.