Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-05-12
FAIR
Wonders Of Electricity in the
Great Exposition.
ALL FORMER EFFORTS oUTDoNE.

ALL FORMER EFFORTS OUTDONE.
Electrical Chicago Compared With Elec-
trical Paris to the Great Advantage Of
America Power as Well as Light
Beautiful Spectacular I~lluminations -
This the Electric Age.
WORLDS FAIR, May 4.-There is to be
no greater sensation here than the exhibit
IF electricity. This is the electrical age,
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 II of ten of the important
electrical inventions of the times, and
American lights, American applications
Of the magic current to industries and
transportations are in use the world over.
Never before was the power and the diver
sification and the magnifcence of this
comparatively new servant of man shown
as it is shown in the Columbian exposi.
ton. The strong feature of the exhibit is
that it is more than a mere display; it is in
use: it furnishes the light and the power,
the beauty and the spectacularism. Dur
Ing this, the last week of preparation,
even the most hardened workers at the
fair have broken forth in ordinations of
Joy 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. It may not
be generally known that the first exposi-
ton to depend alone upon electricity for
its lighting was held in this country. The
Louisville exposition of 1883 was illumi-
mated by 5000 Edison incandescent lamps,
which were then a great novelty to the
public, and of course the lighting consti-
tuted one of the strongest attractions of
the show. No other artificial lights were
used, not even arc lamps. AT the New Or
leans exposition both the arc and incan-
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
ipp HoJvQrs xx.Gro hro,,r1% o,,% ol~,,,~ -.
perfectly as in sunlight, and as no other
artificial illuminanr could do.
Paris, the home of expositions, and al
ways q great enter of electrical develop
ment, set rapid pace in 1879 when she
opened the exposition evenings with the
then unheard-of number of ,4S3 arc lamps.
Four years ago 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
works organized a syndicate of electrical
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 exp
sition OF 1859. There were only 100 arc
lamps and 1900 incandescent lamps.
Electrical power was not distributed
throughout the grounds. The energy used
In generating electricity amounted to but
5000 horsepower. The largest single dy-
namo used was Of 400 horsepower.
, This was only four years ago, and the
best the French could do with q govern
ment 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
COCO arc lights and 10000 incandescent
lights. Many of the latter are small
lamps, used ~decoratively, but by the
usual standard equal 10000 in all of full
power. The engines used to operate these
lamps and to furnish service-power have a
combined energy of 5000 horsepower, 1900
Of this coming from the shaft of single
engine. Here a single armature on the
shaft of a big engine will, when run to it
highest speed, develop $500 electrical.
horse power. Another engine, with two
ar1natures, one at either end Of the shaft,
will develop 1900 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
lean electrical plant outdocs all previous
efforts. For the first time in the history
Of expositions electricity has a building Of
its own in which to show the world what
it can do. Here are eight and one-third
acres devoted to the appliances and mani
fest&tions 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 feather-weight in
strument, of almost inconceivable delicacy,
with whichsurgeons illuminate the throats
of their patients. Here will be shown the
numberless appliances with which cleo
tricity 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 will be the telegraph, with
its wonderful multiplex and more won
derful printing systems. Here the telau-
tograph, or ''far writing in fac-simile"
machine, the newest marvel in electric
ity will be shown. Here Wizard Edison
will introduce to the public his almost in
credible Kinetograph, 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 well.
Some one said to me q few DAYS ago. as
we walked through the Electricity build
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