The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1894-05-12

several and will be glad to plant some
more. Bill Arp
IN THE ELECTRICAL WORLD.
1T is reported on good authority
that a company backed with American
capita. will build a cable line connect
ing San Francisco and Santiago.
The Postal Telegra phi Co. is to put
its St. Louis lines underground. The
Suffer conduits will be used in the
form of ccment-lined iron pipe.
The meteorological stations in ia
pan, of which there are forty, are be-
ing connected together by telephone.
Thirteen stations are already in CONF
m unicat ton.
followed the recent lead of the Paris
Havre Co. and initiated the use of
electric locomotives for running its
trains. The former company has de-
cided to abandon entirely steam as a
motive power. The express trains of
the Lyons Co. to Nice are now run by
electric engines. One novel feature OF
the engines is that the entire fore part
is wedgc-shaped.
The arc lamp is yet to be touched
up to more perfectly uniform action,
the glow lamp is to be cheapened, al
ternating current motors are to be per-
fected, clectro-metallurgy is to be fos-
commercial usefulness, conduit rail-
ways must be attained, storage bate
rics or gas batteries of n permanent
type are to be designed, long-distance
transmission must come, and 4 host of
other kindred tasks remain We are
but on the threshold of the electrical
age.-Electrical Review.
In answer to a correspondent tho
Electrical Review states that the two
basic patents on the telephone, involv-
ing the method of magnetic transmits
sion and the magnetic receiver. have
expired, and consequently any one is
free to use the telephone to that eN-
tent. For 1ong-distance work, howe W
err, the :tcle phone business is not open
to free public use. The American Bell
Icle phone Co. owns patent issued to
Emile Berliner, November II, 1891,
which covers the ia miliar form of car
bon ira nsmitter. Such Il transmittcr
lance work. The magnetic as ordina-
rily constructed has not sufficient pow
CIR to transverse long distances and
give commercial talk. Some modern
types of magnetic instruments have
been devised which seem to possess tho
qualities for long distance use, but
such instruments are the exception and
not the rule The Berliner patent may
be declared invalid, but until it is, it
holds good.
in 1883 the entire electric railway
mileage in the United States was only
about 4S, distributed over eight states.
At the close OF last year the electric
railways comprised 81 per cent of tho
entire street railway system Of the
United States, this gain being at the
expense of the horse and steam lines
The past year the mileage operated by
horse power decreased from i, 400 to
3, 497 miles and that by steam $40 to $50
creased 1.64O, but the electrical rail.
way mileage increased 1,5l7 miles,
showing an extensive conversion OF
horse line into electric. About one
quarter of the mileage of the horse
railways in the United States year
ago has been fitted for electricity.
The cable railways increased only
twelve miles during the year, thus
proving it is cheaper and more salts
factory to operate by electricity than
any other system, and in the near fl-
ture, it is predicted, this system will
be a formidable com petitor of the
steam railways for suburban traffic.
The Washington ton of tho
National Electric Light association
among other questions, paid good
deal of attention to that of wiring, and
adopted 4 new set of rules in regard to
the matter. 1t appears, however, that
these rules conflict in several import
ant details with those of the Under
writer's international Electric associa-
ton. This want of uniformity in the
two sets of rules is greatly deplored by
those in interest. The Architects
Electrical Bulletin of New York. com
menting on this conflict of authority.
says: 1t seems to us the best way to
get concurrent and accordaut action
would be to resort to 4 conference in
which all the regulating authorities
would be represented and at which
some universal agreement could be ar
rived at. AS it is, we have had the
spectacle of the National Electric Light
association copyrighting its new rules
avowedly because various insurance
bodies steal and plagarize the rules,
and spoil them in the process, beside
infiicting serious hardships and inju-
ries on the art. Now all this is to be
deeply regretted, especially as it should
pc easily avoida ble.''