The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-17
NOTES or ELECTRICAL PR0GREss.

Alderman electrical paper describes . nsv form Of
ara lamp which has recently been patented. and
u said 70 have great advantages II does not
consume carbon rods, like the ordinary lamp. but
maintains Its arc between platinum surfaces In q
vacuum. The lamp consists Of Q glass bulb. In the
interior Of which. In place Of the customary carbon
rods, regulated by more or less complicated mechan'
I'm, are Two Lshaped pieces OF aluminium pointed
with platinum The arc plays between these In a
vacuum. the bulb being exhausted highly II Is as
serted that regulation, or starting the arc rather, Tor
II requires no regulation, Is accomplished BY a simple
pendulum motion OF the bulb. The lamp Is said To be
shadovless. and the incandesccnt portions do not
wear out.
At SImla, which is the summer capital Of India. In
the foothills OF the HimslAyas, thee Is a vast amount
Of unu,ilixed water power. To this day. though.
kerosene oil Is the favorite illuminant II Is no pro-
posed 10 erect a municipal electric Ugh, plant. using
the water power, and to sell light at a price lower Than
that at which II can be produced by Kerosene,
A projec, recently set on foot In Hungary to supply
electric power In small quantities To home workshops
In the vicinity Of "a Budapest has received the sanction OF
the Hungarian Diet This method Of working affords
one OF the strongest contrasts between the European
and American working people. Here industries are
kNluNItu lHtO W'N'' W. NN'''S "
methods and machines can be practised In Europe,
particularly on the Continent, the reverse Is true. and
such Industries as lock and gun making. lace max
watch making. ribbon weaving, &c, are scattered IN
innumerable small workshops, generally the living
places OF the operatives The ancient methods OF
manual labor still obtain. and 10 meet American COM
petition It Is necessary either to gather the operatives
into factories where the money and time saving ma
chine can do most Of the work or else take the factory
20 them. In a sense. BY supplying their little Zoos
lsthes and ribbon looms with cheap power. This plan
has already been practised with considerable success
at st. Etlenne In France, the headquarters OF The rib
bon industry Of that country. The operatives Will
not submit 70 factory hours or discipline, prcferring
the irregular hours and greater liberty OF the old RS
glme. Hence the necessity for cheap power In the
home work Shops-a necessity that Is so urgent In
some parts OF The Continent as to call for Government
recognition.
In Great Britain according to a London news.
saper, the Ell ects Of the wa In taking away so many
farmhands Is being ke.nly felt, and some ingenious
elect lcal devices are being used to perform III duties
Of the absent ones. At several leading dairy farms
the cattle are now being fed by el.c,tci,y, an automatic
mechanism operated By = clock being used. The ap.
paratuS Is set for any required hour. At the ap-
pointed time It opens gates In hoppers over the COW
stalls aud horse troughs and lets the proper Quanu'y
Of feed run out, at the same time ringing an alarm TO
wake the farmers. II Is said that this automatic
"hlrcd man" Is becoming very popular on account Of
the regularity OF is habits
A comnany has been formed In England with a capt.
tai OF 50. 900, 900 10 lay a new tranSatlqntir cable be-
tw,"n New York city ard a point on the coast OF
Portugal This will b. the longest cable In the
world. that from Cape Cod. Mass, to Brest, France,
$500. Ill H. h.. ra,,r Enr gtpiia cables In
crraSinc the length greatly decreases the speed OF
.lrnalling. and TO compensate for this decrease re-
ou,res much more expens We construction for long
than for short cables. The present rate OF speed on a
faS, cable between Newfoundland and Ireland Is about
two hundred letters. or. say, twenty nve words a
n,,uts. The cables are worked duplex however,
so that sign ais are sen, In both dirtcions a, once over
them. There are. at present. seventeen transatlantic
cables. Of which fourteen land in United States or
Canadian territory.
In the last four years the enclosed type OF arc
lamp has practically displaced the old open type for
indoor Illumination, and Is rapidly taking It's place
for stree, lighting The difference between tn two
isyc,y small. yet 1t accompliShes truly remarkable
result, In the economy and operation Of the lamp
In the old open arc type there were two carbon rods,
always In a vertical position, and as these wasted
away the upper onr was fed down by appropriate
mechanism. one carbon, that by which The current
enters the lamp. or the positive carbon. burns away
about three times as fast as the other, and this Is
made the upper or fed carbon The rate OF con
sumption Ia ordinary commercial lamps Is about an
inch and a half an hour, 50 that a positive carbon
rod twelve inches long lasts only about cight hours
AS winter nights are considerably more than eight
hours long the lamps have been made double,
that f.. each contains two sets OF carbons.
and when one is consumed the other IS automatically
switched In, making the lie OF the lamp with a single
trimming sixteen hours. Of course. such lamps have
TO be trimmed every day, The new enclosed type Is
n all respects ,milar TO the oder lamps, except tha,
a cylinder Of glass about four inches high and two
and a half inches In diameter Is placed around the
are. II Is tightly fastened TO the lower carbon and the
upper one nearly FITS a hole In n brass cover which Is
cementsd to the glass globe. When current Is turned
on and the arc Is formcd the air in the globe is In
tusely heated and expands, finding It's way Out
through the loose joint where the upper carbon
enters In a few minutes the attcnuated air left behind
Is all consumed and turned int inert but Transporter,
gases. and the arc continues TO burn In an atmos
phere yhich does not attack the white hot carbon.
The immediate effect Of this is to increase the life Of
a single pair Of carbons from eight TO about one hun
dred and nifty hours At the same time the arc. being
protected from air currents, burns more steadily. and
for this and ether reasons the regulating mechanism
Of the lamp can BE- stmpllhed. Instead ~ requiring
trimming once a day once In two weeks sui
nces, and as the carbon Is burned slowly TO form
gases II cannot powder and drop dirt and sparks a.
the open lamps do sometimes. The simple glass
globe was really a great invention. about the origin Of
which there is unfortunately still some dispute.
An electrically lighted lightship Is to he stationed
on the dangerous Diamond Shoals Of Cape HatteraS
This vessel will combine many novel features
All attempts to keep a lighthouse on the diamond
Shoals have failed. the last being made several years
ago, when a great iron caisson was started In tow fol
them The new ship Is 10 be 2 feet long, "a feet q
inches beam and Il feet 10 inches deep. She will
carry two hollow steel masts, each provided with a
masthead cluster Of six iO0-candle- power incandes
cent lamps 50 feet above the waten line. Thu
electric generating plant has . duplicate set n en-
zines and dynamos, so that accidental extinction Of
the lights is very unlikely. To guard further GAINS
It, though. the ship Is provided with oil lamps also.
A large number OF electric launches are 70 b<
operated on tn" Thames this summer. this variety
Of power. propelled boat being highly popular There
Is no reason why II should not become very popular
everywhere. because II is the ideal form Of pleasure
boat There Is no machinery In sight no heat. nc
vibration. no smoke. no dirt and no noise-a com.
fora bic category OF negative virtues 10 which may b.
added the positive ones Of safety and simplicity OF
operation. In such waterways as those surrounding
New York electric launches should be In 4 their element