The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-12
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sEDE M?-Joseph Wetzler makes the
question: "Will the electric motor super
sede steam2" the subject of a recent
article. Mr.. Wetzler answers the question
in the affirmative, and expresses his firm
belief that all railroads will be eventually
operated electrically. On many short
suburban roads, where the traffic is heavy
and the trains are run at frequent inter-
walls, conditions exist which foreshadow
the future practice in economical electric
railroading. Among the advantages which
electricity offers over steam for the rail-
road work of the future, Mr.. WetZler
points out that instead of hundreds of loco
motives burning coal in hundreds of in
diyidual furnaces, working their steam in
hundreds of cylinders-for the most part
using the steam under the most uneco-
nomical conditions, and then exhausting
it into free air-the electric system in
wolves the placing of power stations at in
tervals say fifty miles, equipped with the
most modern triple and quadruple expan-
sion condensing engines, and utilizing to
the fullest extent the heat contained in the
coal. Another feature of economy pc
culiar TO electric power distribution, which
is directly applicable to railroad work, is
be built of considerably smaller capacity
than the aggregate maximum capacity of
the locomotives on the road. Thus, if di-
vision of a double track railroad, 1C0 miles
in length, had, say, forty trains running
at the same time, each averaging 500 horse
power, there would be a total of 10000
horse power required in the steam equip
ment of the locomotives. If the road were
equipped electrically, Mr.. Wetzler shows,
it would need a maximum capacity of not
more than $4,000 horsepower, or 25 per
cent less than the total power of steam To-
comotives as now made. The matter of
speed will offer no difficulty. With the
electric locomotive, even of the next few
years. people will be able to travel quite as
fast as they care to, and with cars pro-
PEELED, heated and lighted by electricity,
and the absence of dust, smoke and Gin
ders, trip on the 100 miles an hour ex-
press, which may be looked for in the early
part of the twentieth century, should be an
ideal method of travelling.
A New. POINT IN ELECTRO PHYSIOLOGY
An issue of great Importance has
recently been raised by correspondent
in the columns of leading electrical
journal. One of the laborers in a mine
was killed by an electric shock received
while handling an electric mining machine,
Notwithstanding the fact that the electro
motive force on the circuit did not exceed
$50 volts. The young man was strong and
well built, and post-mortem examination
by physicians showed that the brain and
heart, and indeed the whole body was
sound, and there were no marks to indicate
the cause of death. Richard Lamb states
that too much publicity cannot be given
to the fact that even 110volts will kill, if
applied to bleeding sore and allowed to
remain a few seconds. The fact that ITO
volts does notparalyze the nerves, and that
therefore, the contact can almost invariably
be withdrawn at once, is the reason why
there are so few records of death, if any,
by that voltage. With $50 volts in contact
with a bleeding sore upon the hand, a
person would be killed almost Instantly.
Blood is good conductor of electricity,
and the current would be transmitted at
once to the heart
CUTTING AND SINGING HAIR BY ELEc-
TRIcITY.-The latest novelty in the bar
ber's-shop is the "singe-cutting comb"
This apparatus, which cuts the hair and
singes it at the same time, consists of a
comb over the teeth of which is stretched
a platinum wire, which is raised to a
white heat by the passage of current. The
supply of current is regulated by push
button at one end of the comb. AS the
button is pressed the comb is passed
through the hair, which is instantly
severed, the cut ends being sealed by the
heat. 1t is well known that smuggling the
hair is extensively practiced on the strength
of the plea that the hair tube is filled with
an oily substance on which the life, beauty
and vigor of the hair depend. When cut
with shears this oil is supposed to escape
until nature again closes the capillary tube.
1t is claimed that the cauterizing of the
hair on contact with the hot wire closes
the ends and also reduces the liability to
catch cold in the head after the hair is
cut. There is no possibility of either a
shock or a burn being communicated to
the scalp.