New-York tribune., 1898-10-09
ELECTRICITY IN AMERICA.
EXTENT OF INDUSTRIES THAT EN-
PLOY 1T.
DR. KENNELLY's REVIEW OF FIFTEEN YEARS
oGREss-IMPRovEMESTs IN MACHINERY
AND METHoDs-LARGE INVESTMENTS


AND METHoDs-LARGE INVESTMENTS
~ NEW KINDS OF BUSINESS.
A good deal Of interesting information about
The progress Of electrical industries In this coun
try Is hacked away In an article written by DR..
A. E. Kennedy for the current Casters Ine
doctor Is the president Of the American tnsti-
tute Of Electrical Engineers. and 1t Is fair pre-
sumption that he is we'll qualified to talk on 'he
subject Inasmuch as the principal development
of electrical engineering has been confined 10
the last fifteen years. and as there is now some-
thing like 81 9vO 100000 invested In electricai
annlications in this country, the topic is DIS
tinctlv modern one and of commanding impor-
tance.
beginning with dynamos DR.. Kennedy fcints
ont that at the time of the Philadelphia Electro
cal Show in 1884 g. machine that had an output
Of fifty kilowatts-a kilowatt is equl'alei'' W
about one and third horse-power-was cis
ono Al the present time a generator having
capacity os /. GOO kilowatts is being built com
pared with 1882 the cost Of a dynamo to-day 10
about one-tenth for the same capacity. In re-
gard to efficiency" 1t Is TO be observed thal
little Improvement has been possible Tor hlteeh
years The machines exhibited in Philadelphia
Welded in the form OF electricity 81 per cent OF
the mechanical energy used to drive them.
| machines at the present time. though an ef-
cheney OF % per cent is sometimes atta'neo'
| Owing. however. to better design, ten watts can
be got out Of a dynamo for every POUND OF
| weight to-day whereas in 1884 only six watts
were secured.
| In calculating the cost Of generating elec-
tricity, engineers start with the kilowatt for the
| period of an hour. Fifteen years ago the MIMI
mum cost was 1.5 cents per kowatt-hour uhuer
the most favorable circumstances. NOW, for
large electric railway systems. current is some-
times supplied for 1J cents. The power from
Niagara is sold in Buffalo for from cents TO
two-thrds of a cent. according to the amount
consumed
| Incandescent lamps cost about II fifteen years
ago. but can now be had for Is cents. The quar-
ity of the lamp has been much improved. too' IN
the mean time. Arc lights were alrea1y aInos'
perfect in 1884. but the cost OF the carpohs mas
boen reduced TO one-third Of what 1t was then
and the ''inclosed arc" by prolonSing the lie
Of the pencils from eight to ten hours TO one
| hundred or one hundred and fifty. still further
nronotes economy Up to the present time not
far from 5000 900 900 has been invested IN e'ec-
| trc lighting enterprises in the United states
Storage batteries were in use in 1884 10 some
extent but at that time il was possible 10 put
in a maximum charge Of only "a watt-hours 10
a pound of plates. and even then only % per
| cont of the charge could be drawn off before
removal became necessary. Now yield Of
from ! 10 6 watt-hours per pound can be had'
and the efficiency has been Increased to % per
| cent.
Less than eleven years have elapsed since 'he
fret successful trolley road was put IN opei'-
tion. and now there are about fourteen thousdi'
r,,ios of track on which electric traction is en-
tQra
now there are electric engines OF fifteen hundred
borse-nower. few years ago only five watts
,a ha extracted from a street-ra!lway motor
nor Mound. while at present the yield Is ABOUT
fourteen watts This Improvement, II VIII De
seen makes II possible TO use less welehI 'oi
the power required. 1t is due largely 70 the IN
PRODUCTION Of soft cast-steel In the manufacture
Of motors The capital now locked up IN electric
roads IN America is estimated at sl,oooVo'oV''
ord this one industry employs one hundred and
seventy thousand men.
Power developed by waterfalls Is now trans
,nitted in the form Of electricity to distances
everywhere from two to eighty-nve miles, anu
tho total amount now thus sent over wires Is
about one hundred and fifty thousand kiiowatts'
~ two hundred thousand orse-power. For
transmission purposes the alternating current
o,oro is used because it can be transformed
economically. and it Is far cheaper TO send cleo
.r,ci,,, over wire at high voltages than low ones.
The anparatus that transforms an rn1tlnS
current will now absorb only li2 or per cent
of the energy in the process. This loss Is not
,rortb considering, compared with the enormous
so,;,e in the copper wire required for ong-dls-
tance transmission.
4 few years ago electrical engineers were
afraid 10 handle currents Of two thousand OF
three thousand volts. Now they have perfected
Insulation so that they send currents at thirtS
Thousand volts over some OF the newest trans
mission lines The insulating material in dy-
ranoo would not admit OF developing a current
At voltage above one thousand nfteen OF
twenty years ago. II was customary 10 gen
crate at n low voltage and then transform IL
nm at a certain loss say per cent Generators
orc nov, made that deliver current at ten thou
sand volts.
IN ,A,egraphy little Improvement has been
..od to- oyor two decades because the Morse
svstaro which is still in vogue. had been per-
ro.od before that time. DR.. Kennedy thinks
that about Si5OO0OOO0 is invested In telegraph
lines In this country.
Ahout tvo-tilrds Of that amount has been put
into the Telephone business Every day, on the
average. three million connections are maze
and The service employs seventeen Thousand
nersons and nine hundred thousand miles oi
u,-a I, IS possble 10 talk over eighteen hun
dred miles Of wire by telephone now
4 number Of industries requiring intense meats
niEe the production of calcium cai bide) or elec-
tro-cnemcal action (such as the manufacture oi
aluminium are springng up at places where
electricity can be obtained cheaply as az Mag
ara This is one Of the great business develop
ments Of the day.