The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-02-05

the COMMISSION naQ TO 90 sonnet ulllS
So when all the power of the press
painted the new idea with plenty of red
ink and demonstrated how much SUI
perior it was over all it's predecessors
and how each paper had achieved ITS
great victory for the people, why the
| latter thought they had good cause to
entertain hopes.
To curtail lengthy story it is enough
| to say that at present the commission is
hard at work corresponding with
George Gould of the Manhattan Conn
pany, and trying to persuade that gen.
| tleman. in the name of charity or any
| thing else, to make some Improvement
| upon his present entirely inadequate
| system of elevated railroads. Real
| rapid transit, the present gentlemen of
| the board, are frank enough to state is
! quite impossible for an unimportant
hamlet like Greater New York. In the
meantime New York continues in the
vain effort to be patient with ten miles
an hour and swinging straps instead of
seats.
| Few people in the city know where
the current comes from that illunlinates
| the principal thoroughfares through the
| medium of the arc light, or how it
| comes. The writer confesses that he
was thus ignorant till few evenings
! ago and as far as details are concerned
| he is still in that blissful state, the fine
| demonstrative abilities of certain
young electrician Notwithstanding.
| The central station of the Edison Com
! pany is down in Duane street, and there
| is generated most of the current that
New York depends upon when the sun
| light has failed To reinforce the cur
| rent where it weakens through dis
charges in the atmosphere, ETC., the COM
pany has established auxiliary Cor in its
own parlance, booster stations'o at
| regular intervals all over the city; each
| of these being equipped with a complete
| set of apparatus in miniature and capa
| BILE of sending out independent currents
| to meet the main line wherever it be-
comes weak. 1t is needless to state that
| the demand for these booster cur
rents is almost continual.
! visited one of these auxiliary sta
lions the other evening and found it in
the basement of one of the most recent
of the magnificent office buildings that
| have in the past year or so sprouted out
| of the lower part of the city. After
being directed as to the wherea bouts of
| the object of my search / went down
a flight of granite stairs, up a fight of
wooden ones, more wooden ones and
before 1 reached the small flight of iron
steps l was thoroughly convinced that
| it was an uniting location for an in
| stitution so important.
| Upon opening the small door at the
head of this last flight 1 was greeted
| by solitary young man of very
thoughtful aspect who seemed surprised
at receiving such a visit. He was, how
ever, very willing to show how the
| thing worked.
You seetthOse little leaden rings con-
Meeting those copper slabs? Well, they
act very much like a safety valve on a
steam engine; when the current be-
comes so strong as to endanger the line
why these simply melt and destroy the
connection. Then you see we have in
dicators, too by which we can tell the
exact load carried by each WIRE" desig-
| mating row of about dozen compass
| like affairs
| Just then the telephone bell tinkled
and when he had finished talking there
he walked over to his desk, made some
| marks in red and green upon a chart re-
sembling a chessboard and informed me
that it was headquarters that was just
on the phone. They call me up every
! fifteen minutes to give instructions and
get my report for the preceding fifteen
minutes. By this system they can tell
to an ohm the .strength of the current at
every point at any time."A
| The compartment we We're now in was
/ inst a mass of era nike Switches Iauarc
and indicators. Enough to make the
head of a layman swim" more effec-
lively than absinthe. Accidentally
placed my hands upon strip of copper
hidden by a ledge of woodwork and re-
who comes in does the same thing
laughed the electrician, land sometimes
| they are badly frightened"
The next compartment contained the
motor of 200 hourse power and the dy-
naInos. The great copper cylinders were
whirring around under the carbon
brushes at terrific rate of speed. The
remaining room contained the batteries,
seventy five lead tanks, brimful of di-
luted sulphuric acid and each contain
ing about fifty gallons. A few minutes
in this place sufficed, for the solutions in
4 lhC bdttClISS gave 1Ol III loltlGo oily tliili6
| but pleasant to the throat
| This modern genii of the light was
nothing if not intensely careful and pre-
| else. This was necessary. If / should
make a single false move in operating
| these switches or relax my alertness it
might mean throwing a large section of
this part of the city in total darkness,
and you know what that would involve"
4 T laft r. lal Il IN h H. ix.
| to watch the indicators and wait for hts
next communion with the outside world
through the medium of the telephone. A
hermit in his subterranean vault in the
| heart of busiest New York.
| The clerks down in the Postoffice are
| sorely tangled up in their red tape over
| the consolidation. There are a num-
Der Of streets in the different boroughs
| bearing the same name and people
often forget to put down the borough in
addressing their letters. But this isn't
the worst of it; Greater New York isn't
| greater in the eyes of the United States
| Government, SO that Brooklyn with the
Postofiice people is just as independent
of New York as she ever was, and this
applies to the rest of the Postoffices that
We're annexed in name.
| Until Congress takes action on the
subject letters for the respective Dor
orghs should be addressed as they were
prior to the consolidation, as otherwise
they will be subject to unnecessary de-
lay in the New York Postoff1ce.
| PRESTON JONES.
| Fat Folks Goodness.
4 hi hyrt "a