The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-11
ITS BROWNING GLORY.

|
 ITS BROWNING GLORY.
 Electrical Advance in the Last Two
 Years-The Nineteenth Century's Cli-
 max of Electrical Success--New York,
 New Haven and Hartford Railroad
 Shares in the Honors
 A paper in The Forum reviewing Electrical Advance in the Past Ten Years" by Elihu Thompson, concludes with the following words: This mate rial progress, coupled with the civili- zing and educative influences natural ly accompanying it, as well as the many other advances in the application of science to the needs of mankind, will ever remain the crowning glory of the latter half of the nineteenth century," We may examine briefly some of the heads under which the writer reaches and justifies this conclusion, starting from a datum furnished by the year 1887: At convention of street railway men held in that year a discussion of electric traction as applied to horse railways was vigorously criticised as a waste of, time time, which, 1t was urged, might have been better applied to prac- tical subjects instead of to such a fam ciful or theoretical one. To appreciate the real progress of the past ten years we must consider branches of electrical work other than electric traction.
 First, of the change in electrical in- struments. While part of this work resembles in it's delicacy that demand ed by watch mechanism, on the other hand, the large station dynamos are ex- | a r1,y. pP thA taut ty,a nhi struction. Some of them demand steel castings more than thirty thousand pounds in weight, A few years ago a dynamo was large if it demanded one or two hundred horsepower to drive it, while now such machines are diminutive when compared with those of two thou sand orse-power commonly construct ed The greatest part of this progress has been due to the introduction of the transformer. Illustrating the widely varied work now done by the electric energy, we are to note that our ordina- ry lighting systems carry a large load in electric motors employed for such service as running elevators, driving yentilating fans, supplying power for pumping and driving machinery in shops of all kinds. In the modern war ship the electric plant introduced to work it's incandescent lights is extended | to supply the searchlight, turn turrets and gun-training apparatus, drive ven- 1 tilating or forced-draft fans and work cranes and hoists.
 The production of carborundum. the new abrasive, Of aluminium, ef Of the the ba- sis of bleaching powder and of that of acetyIene is now the fruit Of applied | electricity. Stiii no service has so taxed | the resources of the electrician as rail- | way work It has, however, been shown 1 that single cars may be propelled at l high train speeds, and that electric To- comotives can haul the heaviest train loads, and can more than equal in pow | CT locomotives worked by steam. In l deed electricity now seems destined tc l play an important part in changing all | the conditions of traffic between centres of population. The third-rail system ir | process of development by the Hartford 1 & New Haven company seems to insure l the growing substitution of either single motor cars or two or three coupled cars l for long, heavy trains drawn by locomo- 1 lives, and q more frequent service vii
 result. There is an eventual possibility ] of higher average speeds since stops | will not consume much time, and the time required to recover the speed after a stop will be much less than at pres ent.
 The Harveyed arnor plate is dealt
 with by electricity. To electricity is
 owed improved methods in the casting
 forging and working of iron, brass, cop.
 per and other metals; also new alloys
 with special properties, special grades and kinds Of steel, improved methods oi
 working such substances as glass, DOT ce1ain, rubber asbestos, mica, etc. 'Nc
 existing industry, writes MT. Thomson
 employs a greater range of materials
 from the rarest to the most common
 than does electrical work. None re. 4 quires or employs such variety, ir
 character, kind and quality of materi. als, or of treatment of them, to supply
 daily needs Nature has been ran
 sacked to discover whatever may pos.
 sess qualities desirable in electrical con
 struction; and the resources of art ant ingenuity have been called to supply
 whatever might be lacking" Will it bt
 contended that the author of the article
 has failed to justify his language wher pronouncing the progress in applied electricity the crowning glory of thu
 latter half of the nineteenth century
 Understood in the mechanical and in
 dustrial sense, he has made out his case |