Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-06-13

l
formation Of their experiences. WAS
told SO much as this, that the number
Of revolutions Of the dynamo was run
! up TO about 100 and with perfect sue
cess the wheels spun with the beauty
| and eyenness Of top, upon which
only the laws Of nature operate. one
| hundred and nifty revolutions a minute
does not convey the idea TO the mind
Of the prodigious force that is required
% produce That, but some idea may be
obtained by saying that II the wheel
We're placed upon a railroad track ana
was SCI going at that speed 1t would
cover mile IN Il minute.
That, however, Is scarcely 80 per
cent. of the power that is contemplated
Gradually, carefully patiently, his
speed Will be increased. ana probably
within the next three or four weeks,
until AZ last when the fun force Of
Niagara, 50 far as Tie Penstock can
carry il, is delivered 70 tie turbine,
and by that agency reie!iyered TO he
dynamo, that Instrument viii receive
force capable Of making il revolve AZ
the rate OF nearly 300 revolutions
minute-not quite that, about 2S0 10
be approximately accurate. That will
represent a speed upon 4 railway of
two miles a minute, ana ii is only 10y
such comparison that the mind can
grasp the enormity Of these figures.
At the rate of two miles Il minute the
continent would be crossed IN twenty
four hours. The trip from New York
% Chicago is made in six hours, or
from Philadelphia to Queenstown in a
single cay. But that Is not all. When
al last this wheel Is set going 1T his
speed II mus, 20 day and night, week
in a:ld week out. 1T a rate equivalent
to nearly 1900 miles every twenty.
four hours, or equivalent TO journey
around tile world in eight days.
OF course when the other wheels are
sen mp occasionally this one viii be
stopped, but bS and by. if the CONNER
cial development III the elecfri ,ity
there Obtained proves 70 be as great as
is now expe, ted there may he as
many as three or four transformers
whirlins ut this speed, which can he
likened only 10 some Of the movements
of the celestial bodies.
The capitalists and most Of the sci
entistS who witnessed the experiments
, the other day have now no doubt about
the commercial as we'll as The scientific
success Of this mighty work. Yet they
admit chat the problem viii not be
solved until the transformer converts
the mighty force Of Niagara INFO am
electric current and delivers chat cur
rent 70 the shop the trolley, the cleo
uic.lightiug plants IN Buffalo aud else
where.
+, When returning from Buffalo some
OF the scientists talked about this i'roh-
lem The experiments they III VII
messed We're purely mechanical, for the
| transformer has not yet been per-
mittcd 10 convert the force into an
electric current Yer there was not one
Of the scientists who did hot express
the opinion that when tire electrical
machinery Is attached and the current
developed ii will be found to have as
perfectly solved the problems A. all
of the work hitherto has done.
For instance. Professor Crockey, Of
Columbia college. d very high ~cicn-
title authority, was firm in his heaef Of
the commercial availability OF The cur
reut which this great trln>former VII
develop. lie went on to say t,4at tie
tendency of all those who are using
electricity for commercial purp1S : il
now rs employ currents of higher and
higher potentially 1t seems that the
public has not been taken into this Sc
ere, and that in many places the troll
ICY people and others Who use electric
power are using currents of such y sh
poteutlality that The public might pos
sbly be alarmed, BY and 10y confes
sion Mill rs made, and we will then
know that new for Il considerable tilae
very much more current has been used
than the public is aware of. When it
Il learned that tAiS has been done with
out accident or serious Impairment.
then Of course the fears Of the public
VIII be allayed.
Is one al The scientists said: .'Oue
thousand VOTES VIII, IN the majority OF
eases, prove fatal, aud II that be 50 il
il Just rs well to use a much higher
voltage after the limit OF fatality is
past For instance. the effect upon the
human Sysem OF receiving current
uf 500 volts would in most cases be
no more disastrous than THE effect
caused by current Of 1000 volts.
fhe commercial advantages are very
much greater when the higher potea,
tialitcs ire used ana therefore little
~ Ittle, the companies employing.
electricity haze been increasing ihe'
power 81 their currents. The danger
Il comparatively slight The trolley
ears in Brooklyn have injured or killed
hy knocking down or running ever
moro persons III a year than the elce
tsg urent itself has KILLED. in The en-
tift United States in live wears. Fhe.