Omaha daily bee., 1895-11-24
THE FIELD OF ELECTRICITY
Developments and Applications Of the
Modern Wonder.
GROWING STEAM ' on The OCEAN
Extraordinary Results Obtained in
Spinal Trentm ment--RcristcrinH
Movements of street CnrN-


Movements of street CnrN-
The running OF a street ear from the time
Il leaves the terminals shed to its return is
generally supposed to be' dependent entirely
on the motorman and the conductor. Few
people know that what the car Is doing all
the time is known to the superintendent In
the central office. He simply has to consult
a chronograph and he Immediately learns
whether the cars are running regularly or
irregularly: whether there Is stoppage at
any point; how long the stoppage lasts; how
many cars are blocked and when the
trouble is removed and the road begins oper-
alton again. This chronograph constitutes
sort OF living map of the road, by means OF
which the superintendent can take n birds
eye view of the whole operation Of the line.
If there is a bad streak he can send instruc-
tons to fill in with extra cars. IL there is ir-
regularity in the running time without good
cause he can check It. and, II necessary,
trace the exact car which is being responsi-
BILE for the deviation from the schedule time.
The manner in which all this information is
obtained is really extremely simple. The
chronograph consists primarily of sheet
of paper moving at a uniform rate under
series of pens or points, operated by magnets.
Each magnet point represents a point on the
road, and each time car passes this point
on the road 1t makes contact, and the mag
net point on the chronograph makes a prick
mark on the paper On the frame of the in
strument Is mounted back roller to hold
a supply Of paper, the front roller on which
to roll up the record the top plate holding
the magnet points and the top roller, which
gives the time movement to the sheet. This
top roller is series Of grooved wheels, one
for each magnet point. The Importance of
this part of the device is obvious, since the
movement Of the sheet must be absolute and
exact, or there will be inaccuracy in the time
record This roller is actuated at the rate Of
one revolution an hour by a powerful clock
movement. This gives the paper four inches
of movement in the hour, or one inch for
every fifteen minutes. A line running on
ons-mnute schedule will therefore show ff-
teen cars or prick marks to the inch five
minute schedule three to the inch, and so on.
A break of two inches would denote stop
page OF thirty minutes at that point. When
the superintendent sees a regular, unbroken
showing Of points on the record he knows
that the cars are all doing their full work.
The record sheets are dated and filed for
reference, and in offices where the chrono-
graph has been used since its introduction,
two years ago, the company can tell in
stantly how the cars worked on any day in
the twenty-four months.
ELECTRIC TRANSATLANTIC SHIPS.
electrical engineering in leading American
college, who had tested almost every form
of the storage battery then made, was asked
whether he saw any future for the accumu-
lator. His reply was: THE more / see of
storage batteries the more, am convinced
that they are impractiGable and that they can
never be made commercially valuable" Today
the storage battery is working its way into
almost every branch OF electrical work, and
If certain promises which recent improve
ment in construction seem to give are full
filled, 1t is on the eve of its crowning tri-
umph-recognition asi practicable motive
power for the commercial propulsion Of street
cars. Many electrical engineers have just as
little faith in the possibility of driving ships
across the Atlantic by electricity as the COL
lege professor had as, TO the future of the
storage battery; but on the other hand, in
ventions are now being perfected which will
effect an extraordinary and almost incred-
ible revolution in ship propulsion, and
those who know what is being done
lie, realize that to name ten years as
the period within which electric ships will
cross the Atlantic is to hlow very liberal
margin. This will probxbly be effected by
machines giving an ene smous economy of
power, but there is already talk of carrying
out the idea with existing appliances. A.
s. Hickey, pioneer in American electric
launch construction, holds that the reason
vessels crossing the Atlantic make such
comparatively slow time is that they can
not drive their propelers fast enough with
the amount of power behind them without
shaking the ship to pieces. He proposes to
put in an ocean ship powerful engine, say
a compound condensng engine OF slow speed
type, connected directly to a multipolar gen.
orator, giving, say, 500 volts potential d..
rectly on the shafts OF the propellers he
would put the armatures of the motors which
are to drive the propeers These can easily
be made to run from 600 to 900 revolutions
per minute, whereas the engine is probably
making only sixty or eighty. In this way
not only would there be a considerable ac-
csleration of speed, but the vibration of the
ship would be almost entirely prevented, and
the dipping in and out of the water of the
propelers in rough weather would not affect
the main engine and jar the vessel from stem
to stern as 1t does now.
AS A CURATIVE AGENT.
Electrotheraplsts are contending success
fully with the difficulty of passing the electric
current through the surface of the skin into
the tissue underneath. An American physi-
clan has perfected a system of spinal treat
ment which has given Extraordinary results.
The difficulty Of diagnosing many Of the
subtle forms OF spinal disease is well known.
BY the new system, in which electrical tests
are made, the presence Of the disease Is
first discovered, then the exact location OF
1t is ascertained with certainty. The third
step Is to drive suitable medicaments through
the skin to the seat of the trouble, and so
effect a cure. This is done by placing an
electrode, the pad Of which is charged with
the medicine, on the skin. and turning on
the current. AS the current passes inward,
1t carries the particles of the medicine with
It. Doctors are now turning their attention
to the application OF weak galvanic currents
In the treatment of nervous disorders of
the stomach This is done by the entirely
unique method of making the patient swallow
the electrode, by which the current is applied,
This electrode consists Of rubber tube. one
mllimeter thick which terminates in
perforated vulcanite capsule, and contains
the conducting wire. After the patient has
drunk two glasses of lukewarm water, the
electrode is connected with negative pole
of galvanic battery, and then swallowed
The conducting wire does not quite reach
the perforated capsule, but goes just far
enough to dip into the water In the stomach
A current of fifteen to twenty-six milliam-
peres is used for about five minutes. The
treatment Is said to be highly soothing and