The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-07-23
1t Really Seems as if Nothing Is Now
Impossible.
The Uses to Which Electricity Can Be
Applied Seem Marvellous Some of
Many Inventions One Can See in
the Great Electrical Building.
Corresnondance Of rHr HrRAIp. l

y
silver, run train of cars, perform a
surgical operation, cure a sick man, re-
store life, cook food, transmit power,
make light, take photographs, write let
ters, record speech, or do anything i'm
aginable. 1t will bridge space and abbre-
viate time. 1t used to be that time waited
for no one. Now the old man has got to
get up and dust to keep up with the age,
owing to the use of electricity.
The other evening | was walking down
one of the principal thoroughfares of the
exposition grounds, when along came
four horse carriage, minus the horses. 1t
was an ordinary looking vehicle, such as
you see going along the streets of Salt
Lake city almost any day. 1t was making
good time and carrying eight passengers.
The driver sat in the seat with his foot on
a button, one hand on lever and his
finger on push button. He pressed the
button with his finger to warn pedes-
trians TO get out of the road; he lifted up
his foot, pulled the lever, and the car
riage stopped. AS it passed along you
could not tell the difference between it
and an ordinary carriage, except that the
thing went along without horses. AS the
Chinaman said, HNo pushee, no pullee,"
etc. People stood and watched the strange
vehicle go by with wonder and amaze
ment.
When it stopped the crowd congre-
gated, but it was not long until they dis
covered that it was an electric carriage.
! A little motor that you could put in your
hat, was located under the back springs;
under the back seat, out OF sight, there
was a storage battery; motion was given
to the back wheels by means OF an ordi-
nary cog wheel. It was very simple
when you examined it. The driver sat in
his seat, pressed his foot on the button,
and by pressing it the carriage would go
backwards or forwards as he desired. A
/ wheel in front of him enabled him to di-
rect the course of the carriage as he
pleased. 1t will run eight miles an hour
and after travelling all day, it is as fresh
in the evening as in the morning. A
| jaded horse is an impossibility with a
vehicle of this kind.
In the electricity building they have al
manner of electrical machinery and ap-
pliances. In one booth / noticed tele-
graph instrument at which the operator
sat and wrote the message on a sheet Of
letter paper, and at the other end of the
line was an instrument that recorded the
message in exactly the same handwriting
duplicating every dot and flourish of the
operator. They have a system of COM
munication so perfect now, by means Of
electricity, that you can talk to man 10(
miles away, not only hear his voice but
see his countenance, and although long
distance separates, you are in the living
presence of the man with whom you are
conversing. Another booth illustrate:
the method of sending messages across Tie
sea; this is now done automatically. A
machine prints the message, sends it anc
transcribes it at the other end; the ope.
rator merely folds and delivers it.
They also cook by electricity, and d.
things up brown. In one section of thi
great building is booth devoted to tn,
electric cooking apparatus. An ordinar,
fat iron is heated by pressing buttoi
and the good housewife can regulate tn,
heat and iron all day without its getting
cold. While she is ironing she can pres
another button, and the teakettle boils
another button, and the oven is heated
and the bread baked; another button ant
her meat commences fry; in fact whole
meal can be prepared by electricity ant
no heat communicated to the room
Electric heaters are provided for COLI
weather so that the room can be heated
I comfortably warm, and the same heat re
tanned for every hour out of the twenty
four. To say that they have got thi
down to perfection, is drawing it mild.
Electricity is now applied to surgica
instruments. They can take off man.
leg by electricity, or pull a tooth, and h.
does not feel the pain, and the operation
is not only performed with despatch bu
it is neatly and scientifically done. If ;
mans food does not digest, they cal
| drop a small incandescent light into hi
stomach and see what is the trouble will
his digestive organs.
A nickel in the slot machine that will
} black your boots, is one of the astonish
ing novelties of the electric show. Sur
! prising as it may seem, the machine is
success. You take seat on a chair
drop nickel in the slot, and up come
the backing and a brush, which give
your boots coat. If your boots ar
dirty brush cleans them off after tn
backing is applied, another brush give
| them polish that would make the mos
expert human boot black sick with envy
A bell rings one minute before the ma
chine is ready to quit, SO that you will b,
sure to have the job done on time. Tn
inventor of the boot backing machine i
now at work on an automatic shavins
machine, that will make shaving a de
light and JOY forever.
The transmission OF power by electric
| ity is here most perfectly illustrated. L
} is possible to transmit power with yer,
} little loss, in fact the loss is scarcely per
r ceptible. This is feature that will in
terest western people, especially Utal
people, as there are many places in GU
, mountains where it is possible to develol
great power, but as it is frequently ii
inaccessible localities, the power nov
goes to waste. By means of electricit,
this power can be conveyed any distance
and applied in any manner desired.
Electricity is generally being made US
of as motive power, and in no part O
the country can it be better applied tina,
. | in Utah. With our numerous mountain
streams capable OF developing gres
. power, it is possible by means of cleo
} tricity to bring it all under control
t Many of the canyon streams surroundin,
Salt Lake and Ogden could easily b
made to develop great many thousan,
horse power, and / am inclined to be
: lieve that the time is not far distant whel
much of this power which is now goin,
to waste, Will be conveyed by mean
of electric wires to business an
{ commercial centers, and there be made us
OF, taking the place of steam to driy
factories, mills and other important in
dustrles that will tend to develop tn
? country. The application of electricit
: has been brought to such perfection tina
it is now only question of the cost of il
production that prevents it from bein
brought into general use. Water is tn
cheapest power known and from what
can learn | am satisfied that there is n
part of the country where electricit,
could be put to better use than in Utah
In conversation with leading electri
engineer the other day, he said that tn
generation of electricity by steam wa
: expensive, yet in many cases it wa
) cheaper to generate electricity by stear
/ and distribute the power by means @
] electric wires than it was for each SINAI
{ factory to maintain separate steam
power. He said that where water coul
be brought into use as generative powe
} that there was no question but that cleo
: tricity was the best means to utilize th