Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-26

|
OF aluminium wires are in operation through
out the country, and IL we are not mistaken
an aluminium transmission line some thirty
| miles in length will shortly be constructed
| In California
Electricity in Mills.
Electricity has in the past been adopted
quite extensively in printing establishments.
paper mills and for operating the machinery
In various lines OF manufacture, and now it
appears to be on the eve Of supplantng the
mechanical drive in the textile industry.
The advisability OF such a change was re-
Gently set forth quite forcibly in paper
read in Boston at the meeting OF the New
England Cotton Manufacturers association.
| According to the author w. B. Smith wha-
ley electricity has up to the present been
| looked upon more favoraby for the driving
or COTTON mill machinery In the south than
| elsewhere In this country, the mill owners
| IN that section apparently appreclating fully
| the greater convenience and nexiblflty in
the distribution Of the power and the
| economy OF space in the substitution OF
wires and motors for the shafting and belt
ways. Moreover, in mills where electricity
| has been adopted as motive power, testi-
rnohy goes to show that although 1t was
more costly to install, 1t effected material
saving In labor, amounting on an average
| to about $1,000 a year.
On the other hand, apparently the only
argument against the adoption Of electricity
IN the textile industry, brought forward by
persons, to be found in every community
who endeavor to impede advancement
through misplaced conservatism, is that its
Introduction would be followed by an in
crease In taxes, insurance and interest AL
| though such probably would be the case, as
mas been heretofore pointed out where driv-
| ing power Is conveyed through long lines
| OF shafting there Is necessarily an enormous
loss entailed In overcoming friction in hang
ers, belts and pulleys. This loss according
| to statistics and careful tests made, would
appear to amount to not less than As to 90
per cent This would mean that mill re-
quiring at times, say fifty horsepower,
would be obliged to install, were a me-
chanical drive employed, a seventy-f fve
horsepower engine and consume at
moderate estimate seventy-fve pounds OF
coal an hour in overcoming useless resist
ance. BY the use of number of small
motors to drive the various pieces of ma
chinery this loss by friction is materially
reduced and probably would not exceed 20
per cent. AS may readily be seen, this saw
ing In fuef alone in a large mill would off
set, or very nearly offset, the increase in
taxes, insurance and interest, to say nothing
OF the saving in labor and the convenience
OF the electrical system generally.
How Lightning Turns Fog to Rain.
In the course of a Royal institution lee
| ture on "Coherers," Prof. Oliver Lodge
made an experiment which may have an
important bearing on the abatement of the
smoke nuisance. He filled a bell jar with
magnesium smoke. Ordinarily these thick
fumes would take long time to dispense.
DR.. Lodge passed a charge of electricity
through the jar and the smoke began in
stantly to clear the smoke particles uniting
and falling in the form of a white snow
of magnesia.
The word used to describe this action
of the smoke particles is electric "cohe-
son.' The explanation of it, DR.. Lodge
said, is beyond our scientific knowledge, and
1t Is one of those great problems of electric
ity which we hope that Lord Kelvin may
solve. 1t Is, perhaps, enough to say at this
point that it is this quality of electric CO.
hesion which makes Hertzian wireless teleg
raphy possible-by the use of sensitive cleo
trio devices called "cohercrs," which, like
the receiver of telephone, serve to indi-
cate certain forms of electric waves. But
DR.. Lodge incidentally referred to a possible
extension on a large scale Of his magnesium
smoke experiment. Some people," said he
may imagine that this experiment sug
gests means Of dispensing London fog. An
adaptation Of some such method might be
suitable for the dispersion of real fog, of
sea fog, or fog arising from a moisture
charged atmosphere. Scotch mist can be
turned into rain by suitable discharge of
electricity, and ordinary rain can be changed
into large drops of thunder shower by the
electric discharge Of the lightning flash. The
reason for the size of the drops is that ow-
ing to the incident of electric cohesion the
drops attracted to one another and form
conglomerate drops But don't think cleo
tricty could prevent London fog The only
way to prevent London fog is not to cause
1t. And the way not to cause 1t is not to
burn coal fires like savages, in open CRATES.
The day will come when it will be forbidden
to import crude coal into London. l con-
fess / should like to see the experiment
tried of making gas at the great coal fields
and of conveying 1t to the town in huge
pipes and conduts. The experiment, of
course, could not be made with respect to-
London: 1t would have to be conducted on
tco large a scale but 1t might be tried
with small town. 1t will have to come
to that some day. People say they can't
bear gas stoves. But as a matter OF fact
all fires are gas stoves. People make the
gas themselves, and make 1t badly No
doubt however, the gas stove of the in
evitable future will be very different con-
trivance from that of today"
wireless Telegraph In War.
"There are a good many reasons why
Marconi's system Of wireless telegrapby
can hardly be expected to come into general
commercial use,' remarked an electrical
expert, "but 1t seems to me 1t would make
an ideal military service. All modern
armies are equipped with telegraphic
field corps and in the operations of our
troops about Manila the telegraphers have
kept close up to the firing line Nobody |
but a practical electrician can appreciate
exactly what that means. OF course, the
field outfit is as light and portable and
easily handled as modern ingenuity can |
make 1t, but at the same time 1t Is an |
enormously difficult job to lay any kind of
a wire on the double quick. Moreover, the |
front OF an army in action is continually |
changing and the consequence Is that the |
connections are eventually here, there and
everywhere and are liable at any moment |
to be cut by the enemy. single snip |
with the shears may undo hours OF the
most panstaking toll and what is worse
1t may throw the army out Of touch with |