The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-25

as day. The brilliance of the display
viii be enhanced by the moving to and
fro of the trolley cars. which viii be lit
up by smaller tubes ranged inside near
the signaling cord.
D. MaeFarlan Moore, the inventor of
the system. proposes by this exhibition to
prove the truth of his claim that either
streets or buildings can now be illumi-
mated more cheaply and more effectually
by the phOsDhOrescent light than by any
other electric method of illumina ton. His
street. is 10 run the line of tubes on poles
placed at curbstones. The current in
every case will be derived from the ordi-
nary street mains.
COLD LIGHT AT LAST.
What scientists have always been look
ing for is a cold light. a light which con-
sumes nothing but the current which
consists, in fact. of the ether in agitation.
The electric light was revolutionary in a
great many ways. Before. for instance.
every light had to burn. the right way
up The electric light could be turned
in any position. and at any angle. and.
in the case of the incandescent lamp. IN
der water. But there was still a radical
fault. There was fllament. which sure
~. though il might be slowly, deterior-
ated. and as the current encountered the
friction of its solid particles, heat was
thrown off. The next step was the dis
pensing with the filament, and the turn
ing of the atmospheric contents of the
bulb into light without dissipating any
This IS what has been done in the sys-
tenn of phosDhorescent or cold lighting
Wiich is 10 be exploited in Harlem. Two
years ago 1t -sTaS considered an eXtraOr-
binary advance that some electricians
who had been working in this field for
years. previously, should have produced
somewhat indistinct photograph was
made in eight minutes. and now this type
Of light is d commercial factor in turn
ing night into day in the city streets.
SHOWED IT TO EXPERTS.
In May. 1896. Mr.. Moore showed his
own system of phosDhorescent lighting
before the American institute of cleo
trical engineers, and photographed the
meGfing hall by ii in so seconds. Some of
the electrical experts present could not
believe that the brightness of the light
did not involve greater expenditure of
horsepower. which would make it more
expensive than the ordinary incandescent
lights. until then used in the hall This
question was then and there set at rest
committee of leading electricians. who
were deputed TO test the system. stated
as the result of their Investigation that
there had been consumed even less en-
Moore. who claimed for his light an ef-
fciency OF current not inferior to that
OF the incandescent electric light. This
was n crucial point in the rivalry with
the older system on which the Dhosphor-
escent light had entered
FIFTY THOUSAND VIBRATIONS.
There are practically two ways of test
ing phosphorescent light. One is TO cleo
trii7 the air of a room so that when the
tubes exhausted of air are waved in it
they light up; the other is 10 lead the
current into the tubes. The first Is
more sensational. but it involves the diff
hculty of using and keeping on
the. wires current vibrating at. possibly,
millions of oscillations per second. II is
also expensive. and has been compared
by analogy with a method OF heating
which would let live steam loose into a
room when it could be conveyed TO
steam coil or radiator with much mora
safety and comfort. and with certainiv
greater. economy of steam. Mr.. Moore
adopted the second method. leading the
eurrent into the tubes and putting the
ether into agitation by the passing of
the electric vibrations through the ex-
hausted air His vibrator" which he
then admitted he used only as make
shift. and which met only comparatively
rudfnentary conditions of the still crude
system, was soon discarded for his .'ro-
tator,' which gives $1,000 vibrations per
minutes as against the 5000 OF Z months
ago.