The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-30

healing. IS stated at from OU 10 ~ per
cent-73 per cent. being given as the max
imum. Assuming a loss of from 3 to 5
Der cent. under the American method, 1t
follows that the degree of efficiency re-
thing more than 20 per cent. less than
that attained in this country. It is to be
noted further that compressed air began
to be used in Paris long before 1t was
taken up in this country, the MekarsH
system Of surface transit alone having
been in opera ton for more than ten years.
With the perfection of COMPRISING APP
paratus, and the reheating system, has
come q third important development,
which has chiefly made possible the use
Of
COMPRESSED AIR FOR STREET
CARS.
This is the invention of what is known
as the Mannesman tube for the storage
of the air. The latter is simply a seam
less tube or flask, made of mild steel of
any desired size and capable of receiving
and holding air charged to very high
pressure. Up TO the time of its introduce
ton il had been practically impossible TO
provide suitable reservoir or holder.
Those which were employed were enor-
nlously heavy, took up wholly imprac
ticable amount of space, very often eX-
ploded. and always leaked The loss in
one way or another was very great The
Mannesnan tube solved the problem by
providing a chest that was practically
air tight. that if it burst did not fly to
pieces, but simply ripped as would
leather bag, and was therefore not a
hazard to life; it was light and it took
up very little space.
These tubes are now made to carry al
most any charge of air. In the case of
the Hardie motor their testing strength
is 1000 pounds per square inch and their
maximum charge about 1900 pounds.
These steel cylinders are distributed I'M
derneath the seats and under the car
bc1y in such a way as not to infringe
nf a n 8 ~
and hold fifty-one cubic feet of air, suff-
Gent to run the car fifteen or eighteen
miles. For the reader apprehenSiVe of
sitting over so highly charged a device,
it NAV be stated that the whole effect
of an explosion of one of these tubes
would be a loud report, a rush of air and
a slight disturbance of the atmosphere
Immediately adjacent. There would be
no flying pieces of pipe, no steam or hot
air TO scaid, and all you would see after
ward would be an ugly rent in the tube.
Such is
THE ROUGH OUTLINE
of the important elements of the advance
in the art. The improvement in the de-
vices for compression represented econ
omy OF production, the development of
the reheaTing process represented a large
gain in the amount of power derived from
the air, ana in consequence a still fur
Their che6pening, while the seamless tube
offered a once safety storage and insur-
ance from loss.
BY virtue of these improvements the
reduction in the cost Of manufacture has
been very great. AS computed by Com
pressed Air. to the editor of which l am
Indebted for much information, air may
now be compressed to high pressure for
considerably less than 8 cents per 1000
cubic feet.
It is probable that air could be com
pressed, piped through large city and
sold at profit for cents.
1t is TO his cheapening, not less than
to its mobility and the ease with which
it may be applied, that the wide use Of
compressed air at the present time is due.
Once q cheap power was offered 1t there
after REMAINED but to develop the various
special devices and appliances by winch
it could be utilized One after another
these inventions have been made until it
is now estimated that this wonderful
force is employed for something more
than 200 distinct purposes.
When we consider the probable future
CT the new force, as such it may fairly be
called, we live over again our experience
with its rival, electricity. The immediate
conclusion after a survey OF the sufilclent-
ly marvellous things that it can and actu-
ally does do. is that there is hardly limit
10 be set TO its possibilities. But brief
calculation will define its limits with some
accuracy. To compress a given quantity
of air requires a given amount OF power,
and the result to be realized in work can
not be greater than the amount of power
employed in generation. Otherwise you
nave perpetual 1QOIOll, d pIOpOSlllOl tIldC
Is not patentable. 1t follows with a rea-
sonable degree of cogency that compressed
air viii not be utilized save where, by
reason of greater utility or convenience,
it is economy to convert your original
power into this
FORM OF POTENTIAL ENERGY.
1t is not probable that compressed air will
be used 10 run railway trains or steam
ships, although it is conceivable that it
III So
we shall fly through the heavens.
But on the other hand compressed air
is superior TO steam piping or any form
OF shaftiDg for the conveyance Of power.
shops near Chicago has demonstrated
the immenae economy which lies in its
use, and it win therefore be universally
introduced at these works, as it is in
many other great car shops, as in Jersey
City, Topeka, Omaha, and elsewhere.
By far the largest use, however, will
come when compressed air is manufacture
ed in huge central stations, similar to that
Of the Popp system in Paris, and is dis
tributed in mains and sold commercially
Just as are gas and water and electricity
Then hardly a limit may be set to its use
fulness. 1t will be in every home, as in
every Office. Every house will have its
elevator. by which with the turn of your
hand You may lift yourself from floor to
floor. The housewife will sweep and dust
With air and / do not doubt that in time
II VIII COIilS 10 WASH your ClSl1eS
and smash your choicest chinaware with
I'll the dexterity, if not with the same
sangfroid of your most accomplished
nandmaiden. 1t may supply fresh and
cooling air in the summer time to the over
heated office, the factory or the sleeping
-oon. The time may come when it will
Nhisk a letter from New York to San
francisco between the opening and the /
closing of the business day. What else /
{ may do is probably wrapped in the (
brain of the seedy and neglected gentle 1
nan of invention and applied science.
CARL SNYDER.