The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-22

denied activity in the storage of battery
industry. The rate at which these cells
are taxing the place of primary batteries
for the operation of telegraph, telephone,
police, lire, burglar alarm and similar sys-
TENS, not to mention their application to
central station-lighting and power plants,
encourages the belief that the dark days OF
the storage battery are over and that its
supreme value will soon be generally
recognized To show how widely opinions
differ on this subject an electrical journal
said recently: 1.-THE man who claims that
the storage battery will ever be used for
traction purposes is either knave or a
fool" AS a matter of fact, the number of
successful storage battery car lines is con-
stantly increasing, and the next traction
installation in Philadelphia is to be on
this system. There is also good ground
for believing that an accumulation has been
invented of such efficiency and extreme
lightness as will make it equal to the de-
mandS OF the SevereSt street fractional
conditions. After seeing this invention
one of the first electrical authorities in the
country expressed his belief that the stor-
age battery commercially available for
traction purposes had at last been found.
Mr.. Macrae shows that the prejudice here
tofore held by the public regarding storage
batteries was due not SO much to defects
in the batteries themselves as to mistakes
Ill Tie ulduueI vi dpIiy my tucLH. LII duuA-
ton to the decided Improvements that
have been recently made both in the con-
struction of lead batteries and the process
of manufacturing them, it is recognized
that fully as much depends on knowing
how to make use of these batteries as on
having good type to begin with. The
selection of the battery must be carefully
adapted to the character of the work in
tended for it, and the installation must be
m 6 10 WI lnfp1ll-
gence. Once properly installed, the battery
should inevitably give satisfaction, as the
directions for taking care OF 1t are so SIM
pie and so little attention is necessary
that it is almost impossible to fail
in getting good results. Now. that the
storage battery is coming into favor,
it is somewhat amusing to recall the viru-
lence of the prejudice that has until very
recently existed against it. Three years
ago manufacturing company designed a
type of cell especially for telegraph work.
After testing it in the factory man took
a sample cell to a telegraph office to solicit
an opportunity of making test on the
circuits. A superintendent of railroad tel
graph. the first person called upon, was
asked if he would take look at the bat
terry, but before the wrapping paper could
be removed from the same he had van
ished into his private office A local
Western Union manager was next seen.
lie promptly and finally dismissed the
subject with the remark: Life is too
short to fool with storage batteries.
New ELECTRIC PEN-Those who have
fancy for seeing telegram in the actual
handwriting of the distant sender can be
gratitied by having recourse to the telauto-
graph. This instrument reproduces the
message exactly as it is written, by means
of stylus electrically connected with the
sending instrument. An electric pen,
working on an entirely different principle,
and intended for authograpic duplication
has been exhibited in London. The pen
consists of holder bearing copper wires
which are connected at the end by a small
loop OF steel wire. An electric current,
which is passed through the pen from a
small dry cell, warns the steel loop to a
temperature somewhat above the fuslng
point OF wax. The pen being then applied
TO thin sheet of porous Japanese paper
covered with wax melts the wax as 1t
traverses the surface, and the sheet Is thus
made into stencil open for the trans
mission of ink. The stencil sheet is fixed
original writing may be taken to practically
an unlimited extent with an linking roller
in the usual way. Lines of any thickness
may be made without impairing the re-
producing power of the stencil. The
invention is not, like SO many having a
similar purpose in view, confined to letter
copying, but may be used for illustrations
of all kinds. The whole apparatus is con-
tanned in small, compact box.
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