The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-12-25

per. He copper was DouSut LOT Il rev
cents from an electrical supply store,
the same as the wire had been, and when
that was done the armature was all
ready to be put in place. Having at
tended to that. John took q small spool
OH which silk had been wound and
slipped it OH the end of the shaft which
projected from the frame. This spool
which the shaft was reyolved. an :.
The dynamo was then completed by
cutting two strips Of thin sheet copper
one and quarter inches long and a
quarter of an inch wide, and inserting
them through the oblong holes that had
been made in one. Of the projecting
arms of the frame. in such way that
the free ends of the copper rested on
thescopper bands outside the, cotton bat
Hat pieces of copper answered to the
brushes and the copper bands to the
'exciters'' of regulation dynamo. When
the armature which, after being wound
is just large enough to Craze the upper
and lower parts of the magnet is rapidly
revOlyed, current of electricity is gen
Grated and conveyed through the wire
and cxciters to the brushes. If short
piece of wire Wer made to connect the
ends of the brushes that project through
the arm, this current of electricity would
pass from the armature to one brush
through the wire and directly back to the
other brush and thence to the. armature
again, thus forming a complete circuit.
If the wire is longer the current has to
travel fartehr, and if, before it returns
to the dynamo, it is passed through a
way all electric lighting is done. Johns
dynamo would not furnish enough cur
rent to, light even an ordinary sixteen
candle incandescent lamp, but there was
enough of it to make one, of the little
'pea lamps" which John bought at an
electrical supply store for so CENTS. glow
With dazzlin brightness. In the picture
in his hand.
When he first started the dynamo to
running, he got his power from the big
wheel of his mothers sewing machine,
and his younger brother sat and worked
the pedals for him. OF course, the fas-
ter he made the wheel fly, the more
electricity was got from the dynamo, and
the wheel of the sewing machine had to
be worked very fast in order to make
is known as an alternating current-that
is the current was produced only when
the two punches of wire passed the mag
net. For this reason when the revolu-
tions were slow, the lamp would glow for
an instant and then be dark for an in
slant, but when the armature was made
fairly to buzz the glow would be steady.
wanted very long by the use of the sew
ing machine wheel and it was not very
long before John fixed up a system of
clockwork with heavy weight, which,
when wound, would run the dynamo for
long time. He had an interesting ex-
perience very soon after his little ma
chine was completed: He forgot that
electricity always seeks the easiest road
and he held the two wires in his hand in
not strong enough to injure him, but It
startled him and made him Understand
better than he ever did before how the
accidents happen around dynamos, so
often reported in the newspapers. If
the current would pass through it as it
did through the little pea lamp, the motor
would have whirled exactly as large
motors connected with large dynamos do
And, as matter of fact, John did aft
erward construct small motor under the
direction of his electrical friend, and
found it much simpler task than the
making of the dynamo itself.
From the Crows Nest.
On December Z, writes G. e. Borch-
grewinck, the antarctic explorer, in the
Century, l sighted the edge of the ice
pack from the crows nest and shot my
first seal. which was of the white kind,
its skin being injured by several deep
scratches. 1t was cold up in the white
cask on the maintop that morning. Be
fore lis were the icefelds, with the strong
ice blink in the air above us, and as we
drew near to the edge the snow white
petrels became more and more numerous.
They are of the size of an ordinary
pigeon, but much more graceful. Their
large eyes are deep black, as are also
their bold, curved beak and their elegant
webbed feet. They seemed almost trans
parent as with spread, quiet wings they
scared in the air about the crows nest,
where was hanging on to one end of a
large telescope heavy enough to lift me
every time I let it glide too far out over
the upper edge of the barrel.
Like the pricking of pins the SNOW
crystals blew, against my face, and
had continually to dry the telescope
glasses with my wooden mittens, as the
vapor from my, breath settled on the
lenses, in numberless crystals. and formed
an extra sheet of glass. But they were
glorious, those hours on the lookout The
air was generally clear, and the deck,
great distances within those southern lati.
one fully appreciate the supernatural
charm of antarctic scenery. Up there
you seem lifted above the pettiness and
troubles of everyday life. Your horizon
is wide, and from your high position you
rule the little world below you. On
ward, onward stretch the icefields, the
narrow channels about the ship are OBJ
ened and closed again by current and
WIND, and as you strain your sight to the
utmost to find the best places for the
vessel to penetrate, your eyes wander
from the ships bow out toward the hori-
zon, where foes and channels seem to
form one, dense vast icefeld. Ice and
snow cover spars and ropes and every.
where are perfect peace: and silence.
We always observed the white, shining
reflection of the icefelds in the air, and
we were thus warned from afar even of
the presence of a narrow stream of ice
or an iceberg. This ice blink and the
presence of the white petrol never de-