The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-10-22

hons has been reduced to one-third OF
what IL was then. and the Enclosed arc,
by prolonging the life OF the pencils
from eight TO ten hours 10 one hundreu
or one hundred and fifty, stiIf further
promotes economy. Up TO the present
time not far from SGOO,O00oo0 has been
invested I'm electric lighting enterprises
in the United Statesc.
Storage batteries were used In lSsi 10
some extent, but at that time It was
possible TO put in a maximum charge
of only "a watt-hours TO pound Oh
plates. and even then only 50 per cent.
of the charge could be drawn OFF before
renewal became necessary. Now yieid
Of from 8 to 8 watt-hours per pound can
be had and the efficiency has been IN
creased to s. per cent
Less than eleven years have elapsed
since the first successful trolley road
was put in operation, and now there are
about fourteen thousand miles of track
on which electric traction Is employed
Small motors were used at first but now
there are electric engines of fifteen hun
dred horsepower. A few years ago only
nv wants could be extracted from
street-railway motor per pound, whlle AT
present the yield is about fourteen
watts. This Improvement, 1t will be seem
makes 1t possible to use less weight Tor
the power required. it Is due largely
TO the introduction Of soft cast-steel in
the manufacture Of motors. The capl-
tai now locked up in electric roads In
America is estimated at S.00O0)Ooc0, and
this one industry employs one hundred
and seventy thousand men.
Power developed by waterfalls is now
transmitted I'm the form OF electricity
10
eighty-nve miles, and the total amount
now thus sent over wires is about one
hundred and fifty thousand kilowatts,
or two hundred thousand orsepower.
For transmission purposes the alternat-
ing current alone IS used, because IL can
be transformed from a low pressure, or
voltage. 10 a high one economically, and
IL is far cheaper 10 send electricity over
wire at high vOltages than low ones.
The apparats that transforms an alter
mating current will now absorb only l-2
or per cent. Of the energy in the pro-
cess This loss IS not worth considering,
compared with the enormous saving In
the copper wire required for long-dis-
lance transmission.
A few years ago electrical engineers
were afraid TO handle currents OF two
thousand or three thousand volts. Now
they have perfected insulation so that
they send currents AT thirty thousand
volts over some Of the newest trans
mission lines The insulating material
i'm a dynamo would not admit Of develop
ing current at a voltage above one
thousand fifteen or twenty years ago.
IL was customary 10 generate at a low
voltage and then transform II up, at
certain loss, say per cent Generators
are now made that deliver current at ten
thousand volts.
In telegraphy little improvement has
been noted for over two decades, because
the Morse system, which is still i'm vogue,
had been perfected before that time. DR..
Kennedy thinks that about $50 900 Is
invested in telegraph lines in this coun-
try
About two-th.rds OF that amount has
been put into the telephone business.
Every day on the average. three million
connections are made. and the service
employs seventeen thousand persons and
nine hundred thousand miles OF wire. IL
is possible 70 talk over eighteen hun
dred miles OF wire by telephone now.
4 number OF Industries requiring in
tense heats like the production OF cal
cium carbide or electrO-chemical action
(such as the manufacture Of aluminum)
are springing up at places where cleo
tricity can be obtained cheaply. as AZ Ma
CARA This Is one OF the great business
developments Of the day.-N Y. Tribune