New-York tribune., 1897-06-13

more 10 the science Of construction He haA
been leading exponent Of the idea of REIN
forcing big guns by encircling the hreech with
heavy coil2
Ia illustrate the development OF the worlds
railway system. which is largely the result OF
Stephensons invention. it may be remarked that
/ there are now nearly or quite JOO.OOD miles OF
track for steam roads in operation. The Rocket.
in 1890. made a speed of fourteen miles hour.
That historic pioneer weighed only seven and
half tons. Modern express locomotives easily
cover fifty sixty miles hour and could be
made to travel much faster il their owners found
it renunerltive. which is not the case. For pas
senger service. engines seldom weigh more than
eighty tons; for freightng. they often reach one
hundred. There has been wonderful improve
ment. too. in stationary engines. especially foi
marine purposes. There time when ths
pressure under which they worked not
over fifteen or twenty pounds. To-day pressures
ranging between $50 and 80 pounds are not un-
common The weight OF the machinery pei
horsepower has diminished from something like
800 OF 900 pounds to fifty sixty. The substi-
tuition If watcr-tube boilers for the Old heavy
scotch boilers is another great step IN economy
of space ard weight. Yarrow and Thorneycroft,
Of England. have both contributed greatly 20 the
perfection OF this type Of steam generator
The Widespread use OF electricity for lighting
and moving cars. which is one of the rnarvellou:
phases Of modern civilization dates from the per
fection OF the dynamo. scarcely twenty-five years
aCo. That machine is based on Faradays diS-
covery announced in 1881. that if a suitable con-
ductor of electricty. preferably a COIL be moved
in a certain manner in the "he!d" Of a magnet,
current would be excited in the conductor.
Werner Siemens = German completed good
elementary dynamo early as 1870. but until
Gramme invented the ring armature in 1911,
and AIteneck the drum" armature in 1873 no
great headvay made with it commercially.
In The Jahlochloff candle. 4 type of arc light in
vogue in Paris twenty years ago. the two fbon
pencils lay almost parallel. Bat il was severu
years before French. German and american in
ventors. notably our fellow -countryman Brush.
gave the world the automatic regulators which
make modern light such u success.
Meantime Edison. swan, sawyer. Man and
others perfectins the incandescent light
Edson's pat. mt or the subdivision Of an electric
current. which was essential to the practical use
Of that invention. taken out in 1SSO. Al
though several other men had been experiment.
ing with electric traction. il Frank J.
Srrague. another American. who made the 1rst
successful venture IL this direction.
Morse invented the first practical telegraph, but
Whtatstone. Englishman. came very near
doing so. and. at later dete. really did devise
an adrl!rab,e machine Cor tn automatic trans
mission of messages. NOISE did not employ .
dynamo as a source II current. Instead. he
used a battery which. orpcrtunely Tor the art OF
telegrauhy. was invented by English scientist
DanieN in l>,,. The first transatlantic cable
laid in lN.'>. was projected IN thlS country, out
the great cable makers OF the world have been
the s;ic..cnsos. e whose factories is in Eng
land. And in submarine teiegraPhy. the mirror
calvauometer and siphon recorder % Lord Kelvin
have always been used. That distinguished ply
sicist has given the world other useful magnetic
appara tus. besides contributing Literally to our
store Of knowledge and comic jecture. Another sub
jcct of the Queen. who has added lasting glory
. her reign is Maxwell DS:;l -lSI3) who origi-
mated the electromagnetic theory of light, and
afforded Us clear notions OF the all-pervading
ether.
The researches Of no other English philosopher
whose worl; comes within the Victorian period.
however equal in practical Importance those of
Joule. who investigated and revealed the precise
. relation existing between 50 much heat and so
much mechanical power This is question
which concerns every r of steam engine an<
many ether people besides. Not even HelmholtN
or Colarg. who studied the same subject. gave
Z the world such fun and precise results.
Darwin may not have helped 70
bread ard butter more easily, ard certainly has
not added 10 material comfort and
venience; but he. too. is one OF the master minds
of the age. and ptrhaps is the only English scen-
tist which these sixty years have produced who