Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-24

air from reservoirs or pipes was also pro.
1 posed and discarded At last a plan of VI
Saccardo, chief inspector OF the northern
railroads Of Italy, has been adopted. This
system consists in forcing volume Of ali
at high speed. say not lees than ten feet per
second, through an annular chamber which
! encrcles the whole circumference OF the
tunnel at one end From this chamber the
air escapes on the inside face OF the tunnel
and is either drawn out or forced in. so as to
| produce an artificial current that shall assist
or supplant the natural current. The tunnel
| is nine and a quarter miles long. The VEN
| tilating machinery consists OF two blowers
revolving at rate OF seventy revolutions
per minute The system works most salts
factoriy, but It is proposed TO make II even
more effective by operating II electrically
The electricity Is to be generated by one OF
the streams in the neighborhood of the
tunnel.
Use Of Car Axle Lighting System.
From present indications 1t should not
be long before every up-to-date railroad
in this country will have discarded the
many unsatisfactory methods of car ilumi-
nation now in vogue in favor of electricity.
Some time ago we called attention to the
fact that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
railway had number Of cars equipped with
axle dynamos that generated current for
lighting purposes, and that the New York
Central, as we'll as the Pennsylvania rail-
road, were experimenting with the system
1t is now stated that the Delaware, Lack
awanna and Western railroad has also taken
the matter up, presumably In sef-defense
and has equipped a number Of ordinary rail-
way coaches with axle dynamos, storage
batteries and seventeen sixteen candle
power incandescent lamps each. This method
of lighting was given a thorough test a
few night ago and was pronounced a sue
cess. AS on the Atchson, Topeka G. Santa
Fe railway, each Of the cars has dynamo
fastened to cross-piece In the truck, the
armature being made to revolve when the
car is in motion by means of a belt pass
ing over a pulley on the axle The current
generated charges set of storage batteries,
from which it is drawn as required for IL
Eliminating purposes. The great difficulty
which had to be overcome In this method
of lighting was the variation In the output
OF the dynamo, due to the variable speed of
the train. This problem has now, however
been satisfactorily solved and there Is there
fore apparently no valid reason why this
method of train lighting should not be gen.
orally adopted, especially in view of the
fact that the cost is said to be but one |
tenth of cent per lamp hour. or course.
the apparatus must be looked after and
occasionally oiled, but 1t is doubtful IL the
system require any more attention than
some OF the unsatisfactory gas systems
now In use. 1t Is understood to be the in
lentlon OF the Delaware, Lackawanna & .
western railroad to employ the axle method
of illumination Of the cars running on it's
lines.
More About Storage Batteries,
The successful use of the storage bat
cry for the purpose of furnishing electric
current for the self-registering instruments
1t the Chicago station of the weather bu
eau is likely to lead to similar nstaIla-
ions in other stations in which the cleo
rlcal service has hitherto been neither sat-
sfactory nor economical. In early expert
nents at the Chicago station it was thought
nat the current might be taken directly
rom the electric light wires, or the main
conductor, and reduced to suitable volt
ge by rheostat, but it was found that heat
vas generated in the magnets and on in
'estigation ground was discovered The
My way In which this could be remedied
vas to run sesh6ate wire directly from
he dynamo, ma kag st exclusively for
his purpose. II old main feed wire
which furnished the current for the experl-
nents with the searchlight OF the illu-
ated battleship Maine was thus used. Prof
ioore placed the light on the top of the
auditorium tower for testing flashlights
S means of giving notice of the ap-
roach Of cold waves and other meteor
logical warnings. But the running of the
eparate wire would have been too expen-
I've and finally the connection with the
irect current supply was decided not to be
sasible. The storage battery was then
,ken up, as especially adapted for fur
ishing the actuating force for delicate in
.ruments, what was needed being a steady
lrrent of high intensity and low potential
he use of storage electricity proved most
atisfactory and permanent plant was c
ut in, consisting of four batteries of two i
Ellis each, the charging current being taken /
irectly from the electric light wires. One
artery furnishes the current while an /
her is charging. In order to insure pune a
lality in the changing OF the batteries the !
oserveT who changes the recording sheet ?
t noon Of each day, then switches in t
esh battery, so that he Is as little likely a
forget to change the battery as to h
iange the sheet. The cells will last for
rty hours supply and as they are In t
oeration only twenty four hours there is p
liberal margin of service In case the OBJ C
rver should by any chance neglect to o
witch in the new current supply. There v
i'll, in fact, be no loss Of records, as the II
il end Of the battery supply will give suff- k
ent current to run the instruments at |;
asst until next morning. The wind direc S
on and velocity and the -thermograph h
e run from one battery of two cells. The
tire equipment costs about s45 and 1t is I
timatod that the batteries, at their pres
1t rate of use, will have life of from
,e to ten years. The cost or renewing
e elements may be put at about one-half I,
the original cost. Il
Execution by Electricity. b
A statement has been going tho rounds, v
edited to a representative of COLUMBIA o
diversity, that the persons who are ex-
uted by electricity are not instantly killed s.
ID are capable OF resuscitation Immediately s
ter the shock. While extended experience t.
u shown that persons may and do recover U
om severe electric shocks producing sus- g
nded animation, that animals apparently u
lied by powerful electric currents or dis h
argos are sometimes brought back to life, X
d that some particular treatment or ad- a
nistration may effect resuscitation in a
sea where ordinary means OF treatment or II
will fail, there is not the d
u hot al 81 iaaI