The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-08-10
Compressed Air Favored By An
Electrical Expert.
SAW 1T USED IN NEW YORK
Watched Street Cars for a Year
ed to Trolley and Cable.

Down at Wrights Villa, in Waikiki, the
scene of rest, is a boy kind of man who
has had his nose at the grindstone for
twenty-five years When he came here a
few months ago he was pale and weak
and tired. Now his eyes are bright and
his step light and his conversation viva
cious. He has found health and happiness
| at the beach and the grfndstone effect is
| all gone. He is delighted with Waikiki
and fond of Honolulu. He is like a bird
out of a cage and it's a pleasure to meet
him because he's so different.
In January last Geo +. BuIen rounded
off a quarter of a century of continuous
service with the Automatic Fire Alarm
and EXtinguisher Company, of New York.
When he at it fifteen years the di-
rectors gave him a vote of confidence and
q big blocK of stock and he has sold
score of patents to the company. But
what Mr.. nulen prizes in his possessions
is a loving cup and a written farewell
from the fifty-one head men in the en-
pIoy. Mr. Bulen quit the company en-
tirely because he wanted a vacation of
indefinite length and did not care to have
with him the thought or sense of any re
sponsibility. He's that kind of man, as
you could tell five minutes after meeting
him. Mr.. Bulen left off just in time. At
the hotel early in the year was a man
whose grindstone term was only Is years
and he had quit too late for now his soul
has gone to it's maker and his grave is
in Nuuanu, where the cry of the night
birds blend with the rustic of the trees
and the sounding of the cliff side waters
forced around by the winds.
Mr.. Bulen was superintendent and cleo
trical expert for his company and he
comes fresh from the field or center in
which all kinds of power have their most
thorough tests and their highest develop
ment. In New York power application is
originated and exploited more extensively
than in any other place. Mr. Bulens COM
pany has an outdoor fire alarm system in
New York and a couple of thousand build
ings fitted with the Automatic Alarm and
Extinguisher plants. These plants or con-
tTivances send in a fire alarm when a GER
tain dangerous temperature is reached at
the ceiling of a room and at the same
time turn on the water me alarm tells
at the fire station the exact spot of the
burning.
IT with the eye Of a man who knows
something of street railway power that !
Mr.. Bulen looked upon the Tram here. He |
has paid little or no attention to the ser |
vice and has nothing to say of il, but !
wonders why there has not long since |
been adopted cable, electric current or |
air. Mr.. Bulen is partial to |
for power but has within the |
past two wears made an inside study of !
the use of compressed air. The oppOr- |
tunity for inquiry and observation came |
about by the operation in the New York
home street Of Mr.. BuIen of compressed
air cars by the cable company. The eX-
Derimental cars We're in actual service
more than year under the notice of Mr..
there InHE |
fraction of great system. They did the
work of electric or cable cars and were
study with view TO applying the use
IF compressed air to launches, replacing
the dangerous naptha. Mr.. Bulen owns
1ne Of the fastest steam yachts IN New
York-a HeTrishOff built bOat-and is his
own engineer, using steam.
He made a critical mechanical eXamin
alton of the compressed air cars, was
to operate one and had access
TO the stations and shops. Compressed
air" says Mr.. Bulen, has proven itself |
TO be not only a safe and reliable agent,
but particularly adapted to many uses
where steam, electricity or other known
power has long been established. Com
pressed air makes possible the pneumatic !
dynamite gun, the Westinghouse air
brake used so generally on railways and
numerous mining devices. Electricity has
so absorbed the users of power during
the past twenty years that the advance
ment in the use of compressed air IS
known to comparatively Few people. COM
pressed air is excellent for street cars
for many reasons. Trolley poles can be
made ornamental but they are usually |
quite the contrary. Putting electric wires
under the ground is considered now to be
)ut of question on account Of expense. The
cable IS to q considerable degree of the
past. I have been an electrical man all
my life. but viii consider anything in the
inc of power. ! have satisfied myself that
in New York compressed air has been
held back and viii be held back on ac-
count Of the large steam and electrical |
and cable interests so long in vogue. a
compressed air locomotive on the Ele-
waited had no end of trouble to get a trial
and then was discarded when it was Civ
ing satisfaction. But the day Of com
pressed air for street railways is coming.
The power plant for compressed air is
about as extensive in engines as for troll
ley or cable 4 compressed air car car
ries two high pressure cylinders on one
truck and two low pressure cylinders on
The other. The initial high pressure is
ZOO pounds TO the square inch. Contain
ers before being used are subjected to
proof pressure of 1900 pounds TO the
square inch. The only explosions known
1aEe eeen forced and intended as tests, |
% note effects. There is no danger. The
tlr goes out with a hiss and a chilly blast.
IC1 see, with vent the force lessons, while
II the beginning Of a steam explosion the
Orce is greater than before, because eX-
lansiOn generates or allows TO come into
action steam that was not steam an in |
slant before in it's confinement. When the !
tir is applied its pressure is 125 to 13O
pounds to the square inch. One charge of