Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-04-29
MAGIC AT THE FAIR
Wonders of Electricity in tho
Great Exposition.
ALL FORMER EFFORTS oUTDoNE.

| and Americans are the leaders of the
world in the new art. OF this there never
has been much doubt. There will be none
after this year. American inventors have
produced nine out of ten of the important
| electrical inventions of the times, and
| American lights, American applications
| of the magic current to industries and
| transported ions are in use the world over.
Never before was the power and the diver
| sification and the magnificence of this
! comparatively new servant of man shown
| as it is shown in the Columbian eXposl-
| ton. The strong feature of the exhibit ls
/ that it is more than a mere display; 1t is in
| use: it furnishes the light and the power,
| lhe beauty and the spectacularism. Dur
| ing this. the last week of preparation,
| even the most hardened workers at the
| fair have broken forth in EXPLANATIONS of
| ioy and admiration as the electric current
/ was turned on, first in one great building
and then in another, and finally upon all
| outdoors illuminating the vast grounds,
the pretty lagoons and the grand basin
and canal almost as brilliantly as Old Sol
himself can do it.
Electricity and its industrial application
| are not so new in the world and in great
| expositions that we are left without a
| basis of comparison. But when former
| electrical aGgregations are compared with
| this one, like comparisons in all other
| fields of human effort, the Columbian ex-
| position takes such a giant stride beyond
| that it will be many a day before its mark
| Is reached by future endeavor. 1t may not
| be generally known that the first EXPOSE
| ton to depend alone upon electricity for
| its lighting was held in this country. The
| Louisville exposition OF 1888 was 1lluml-
mated by 1000 Edison incandescent lamps,
| which were then a great novelty to the
| public, and of course the lighting constl-
| tuted one of the strongest attractions of
| the show. No other artificial lights We're
| used. not even arc lamps. At the New Or
| leans exposition both the arc and mean
| descent systems We're used with good eff
| feet, and it was here it first became known
| that under the clear white light of the
| electric arc all the delicate tints of bloom
| ing flowers were brought out almost
perfectly as in sunlight, and as no other
| artificial illuminant could do.
| Paris, the home of eXpositions, and al
| ways q great center of electrical develop
ment, set rapid pace in 1879 when she
opened the exposition evenings with the
| then unheard-of number of .4S3 are lamps.
| -Four years go she set out to astonish the
| world with her use of electricity, and she
| did it. In France the government Is
| everything, and the minister of public
! firms to do the work. Expense was not
considered. The greatest and best was the
! objective point. But even at this Paris did
! not light more than One-ffth OF her expo
sition of 1889. There were only LOO arc
! lamps and 1900 incaudescent lamps.
| Electrical power was not distributed
| throughout the grounds. The energy used
il generating electricity amounted to but
5000 horsepower. The largest single dy-
I ua,no used was CT 400 horsepower.
This was only four years ago, and the
/ best the French could do with n govern
1ueut at their back for the illumination of
an exposition which was designed to be
their greatest" Let US compare Paris
with Chicago electricity. Here there are
5000 arc lights and 10000 incandescent
lights. Many OF the latter are small
lamps, used decorativeIy, but by the
usual standard equal 10000 in all of full
power. The engines used to operate these
lamps and to furnish scrvicc-power have n
combined energy of s, 600 horsepower, ,, 900
of this coming from the shaft of q single
engine Here q single aruature on the
shaft of q big engine viii, when run to its
highest speed, develop $500 electrical
horse power. Another engine, with two
! arnatures, one at either end of the shaft,
will develop 1850 horsepower. In COM
parison with these figures the plant with
which the French astOnished the world
seems small, indeed.
But Is not alone in size that this Amer
Jean electrical plant OUtdoes all previous
efforts. For the first time in the history
of expositions electricity has building Of
its own in which to show the world what
il can do. Here are eight and one-third
acres devoted to the appliances and mani
fest&tiCns of the newest industrial art.
There are countless electrical machines,
from the great dynamos weighing from
twenty to fifty tons, which even at this
late day the wOrkmen are with many
heave-ohs and powerful tackle hauling
into place, down to the feat her-Tellsht IN
stri1rneut. of almost Uncomfortable delIcilcy,
with which surgeons illuminate the Threats
Of their patients. Here viii be shown the
nurnberless appliances with which cleo
tricitv is used in the arts and sciences, in
manufacturing and household economy.
Here will be displays, novel and beautiful,
sure to make the building the most popu-
lar of all the great departments of the ex-
position. Here viii be the telegraph, with
its wonderful multiplez and more won
derful printing systems. Here the telau-
topraph, or far writing in fac-simile
machine, the newest marvel IN electric
twill be shown. Here Wizard Edison
VIII introduce 30 the public his almost IN
credible Einetograph, which IS to repro
duce audibly the voice of a man who may
be dead or in Jericho, and his photograph
and his gestures as we'll
Some one said to me q few days ago, as
we walked through the Electricity build
ing ''They have made n mistake IN as
signing so much space to this department.;
There isn't enough to fill it" L asked
! Chief Barrett about this, and he replied:
''We could have used three times as much
space had we had it to give out. You
must remember that what you see in this
: building is only a part of our exhibit.
, One-fifth part of the space in Machinery
hall is occupied by what is virtually an
electrical display. There are the sources