Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-12-05
IN THE ELECTRICAL WORLD.

Ill appears tnat an EngllSh nrm mas
secured from the Japanese government
a contract for 500 miles of submarine
cable to be used in laying line to
Formosa. The Japanese propose to lay
the cable themselves, and will use ca
bic ships of their own to do the work.
This may surprise many, but it should
not, for the Japanese are well up in
electrical matters.
1t is reported that the Japanese
have of late been much alive to the
merits of American electrical ma
chinery, and this country is now hav-
ing large share of their business.
The value of dynamos exported from
Germany to Japan in 1892 was 73,741
yen, which far exceeded that from
Great Britain or the United States. In
1894, however, those imported from
Germany amounted to IS, 100 yen; from
England, 1929 yen, and from the
United States 145, 200 yen.
"A well-known electrical authority
has pointed out that it is now as easy
and cheap to have an electric elevator
in a private house as in large office
building. Stairs are literally bar
barism, to which women frequently
owe ill-health, and to which many dell
icate persons may attribute the depri-
walton of the full enjoyment of their
homes. The cost of operating an cleo
trio elevator in, say fve-story house,
making fifty or sixty trips every day,
will not exceed three or four dollars
per month. The devices for operating
nla fnr hou
that an invalid or a child can manage
them. The old lever arrangement can
be dispensed with, and the elevator as
cends or descends on the pressure of
button. 1t will stop only at each floor,
and will start only when the elevator
door is closed.
The advocates of electric smelling
of refractory ores, says the New York
Times. claim that while in Canada,
which contains almost the entire sup
ply of nickel known in the world, it
takes four months to produce a nickel
matt of 21.25 per cent, ton of nickel
ore can be reduced in the electric fur
mace in about 40 minutes. The SUBJ
sanitation of this claim would mean
a great deal for Canada. Some years
ago the United States government sent
a commission to that country to inves-
tigate and ascertain the visible supply
of nickel, with view to its uses for
naval armor. The commission report
ed to the government that there were
$50, 600, 900 tons of that ore in sight in
Canadian territory. With an efficient
electric smelling system the abundant
water powers of the Canadian nickel
district could be used, and nickel,
which is now about 35 cents a pound,
could be reduced, it is estimated, to Is
cents pound, which would permit of
its being used in many new ways
The Mining and Scientific Press
thus sums up the uses to which cleo
tricity is applied: 1t enters into the
preparation of what we eat, drink and
wear, and there are many articles of
utility now produced by its aid. The
residents of many cities in the United
States have their houses protected,
lighted and heated by electricity. They
go to their places of business in cars
run by electricity, the elevator by
which they reach their Office in high
buildings, or the machinery in their
factory is run by electricity The bell
which summons them to church is
rung by electricity, and the church
organ is played by electricity.
Electricity brings the news to them
from all parts of the Garth,
stamps their letters. automatically
sounds the alarm in case of fire, rings
the door bell, cooks the food and fans
them while eating it. When they go
to the dentist their teeth are drilled
and filled by electricity, and miniature
electric lamps are now constructed for
the use of doctors in diagnosing dis
eases. The patient swallows lighted
lamp which eliminates his person SO
as to enable the physician to make a
correct diagnosis. The barber cuts or
singes the hair by means of electricity,
the streets are lighted and the farm
cultivated by it. BY means of it we
can talk to our friends 500 of 1000
miles away, and hear their voices as
distinctly as though they were in the
same room.