The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-09-21
BOSTON HAS FINEST
ELECTRICAL STRUCTURE
New Educational Laboratory Has
Been Named After Au-
gustus Lowell.
WILL SEAT 800 STUDENTS.
Amphitheater Is Connected With
Adjoining Power-Room and
Main Laboratory by Sys-
TEN of Railroad Tracks.
REPCBLIc SPECIAL

what -nmtse 10 be IN many respects tos
finest laboratory of electrical engineering IN
the world has been going up in the Back
Bay district Of this city-a wide. oGe-story
brick structure. TIE interest Of which does
not stop with the students Of the Masss-
chusetts Institute of Technology. for whom
\ Ii is primarily constructed, but includes
every person interested in the opening Of
the struggle between the United States and
] Germany for the primacy Of modern educa-
ton.
This struggle, about which Americans are
likely 10 hear z great deal during the next
two years. when plans now being forrau-
lated IN various scientific centers are more
fully under way. starts with a generally
| admitted German supremacy In electrical
engineering. the German Empire. with its
/ splendid laboratories at Carlsruhe, Darn
stadt and Charlottenburg. 10 say nothing o.
the great laboratory row beiug planned at
AK Ia ChaDelle. Is the worlds center for
! exact scientific work
Neither France nor Great Britain has any
thing TO compare with these great German
institutions. and the Reichssnstalt, the I'm
periaI Physico-Technical Institution at
| Chsrlottenburg. is the court of last resort
for the whole civilized world in all matters
Z pertaining &c the standards of measurement
I for the various electrical processes. That
an American institution is to have a laeo-
ratory equal and probably superior 70 ny
Of its German rivals IL therefore q matter
OF no little moment
GERMAN AND AMERICAN METHODS
The history OF the new American Iabora-
Iory is TYPICAL OF the difference between
American and German methods sfman
moves slowly toward any ultimate accom-
plishmenL- The German. one might say.
smokes his cumbersome national pipe, med
itates an achievement and builds the re
suit. whether a laboratory or a system OF
rhsl1znnhE 81 rhprCuEhlV that neither q
stone nor a sentence can easily De aitsfed
under Il long period OF years
The American. on the other hand smokes
a short briar. and builds whils he smokes
and il time ard tide cal for cnanee IS
cheerfully willing 20 rebuild me loiioMlaS
year. He goes fer insoiratlon 10 the actnal
workshop. where the exigencles OF the
worlds work compel constant adopuon o.
TIE latest and most IhsTs,o dnpF9 5Se newest ed
vocational laboratory in the country Is more
closely related to the big electrical testing
departments at P1ttsourg ana SCHENECTADY
than to the Reichsanstslt-
But il will be superior 70 these great IN
dustrial centers In that II viii aoo tns ~
essential features Of the German laoora-
tory-a room devoted to the maintenance
and investigation of the ultimate STANDARDS
4t e-ecsr fnr s5ectsI research work.
The German student Is apt to know more
about the minute processes OF Special re
practicai electrical mechanism On this side
of the water the institute has attempted 70
encourage this closer aequainlance y vtsuS
centers, an educational example Of Mo-
damned going 10 the mountain
Now the new laboratory PROVIDES a way
for bringing the mountain 10 Mohammed-
Railroad transportation. big city orays. an
electric crane from the street door 10 a
ture hail and. above all, the modern spirit
Of cooperation between the important
technical school and the great manufac-
turing establishment are combined 10 &C
complish the miracle.
1t will be possible TO take a new dynamo
o1 TsS "O OF the institute. transport it by
machinery into the lecture hall, use II 10
illustrate a lecture, carry II back into the
pover-hcuSe. set It up on a metal moor e$-
pecially provided FOX such experiments.
take il to pieces and examine IL In detail.
send II back to the factory. The laboratory
Will thus surmornt what has been consd-
cred an in~surmountable ohstacie-the fact
ufcity grows 50 fast that no educational in
stitution can AFFORD to purchase. often only
the chain Of progression
NAMED AFTER LOWELL
The new laboratory is to be named the
Augustus Lowell Laboratory of Electrical
Engineering. in honor Of the services which
institute II f divided into five important
working parttthe power-roon and main
laboratory, closely akin TO the big CONNER
cial Institutions; the smaller research rooms
based upon study Of the facilities which the
Ger sTm rses, pace al 1ne oi fSs o. tns sps-
room. which Is intended to equal or sur
pass the famous Reichsanstalt; the lecture
the world. and finally the workshop. where
the mechanicians OF the institute Will re-
pair and indeed manufacture a great part
OF the laboratory apparatus. These rooms.
ing some 1000 square feet OF land and one
skylishts that each has the steady, we'll
diHused light Of an artists studio.
The poveF-room is naturally the heart of
the laboratory Here at one end of q hall
something over 3n feet in length are the
six permanent dyramos. their accompany
ias Which vii furnish current Snn for IiEst.
motive power and experimental service.
These permanent dynamos have their own
place az the far end Of the power room
where the song OF the piston still wait
ing TO be translated into English. will not
to which the rest Of the room IS devuted.
The actual experimental work-that is to
say. the testing Of all kinds Of electrical
OF detail. will be conducted by means of a
large number Of smaller dynsmos, which a
end OF the hall TO the other. viii carry back
and forth as different experiments may calI
for them
the power room Is the great lecture room
of the new building. An amphitheater seat
ADJOINING power room and main Iabora-
tory by G system OF double tracks. which
run Ike a narrow gauge railroad across the
lecture platform
Instead Of trains running upon these
tracks there will be moving tables for the
arrangement of apparatus used in MusS-at-
ing the lectures
STANDARDIZING ROOM
What viii probably interest most persons
more than the power room or the Lecture
ROOM however, is the srandardtzing Toom-
Here one gets to the bed rock of electrical
engineering-the precision of instruments
United States. curiousiy enough. In view
Of ali We have done in electrical sciSnce,
has no final authority or electrical stand
ards. although the Bureau of Weights and
Measures has recently established at wash
ingtcn a number OF standards of electrical
measurement that partly answer the 70
Quirements
But this country has as yet no bureau
for standsrdixing electrical apparatus that
can compare with that of the German
Reichsanstalt. In planning a Standard
equal that OF the Relchsanstalt- the Instf-
tute Of Technology IL indirectly supplying
such 4 bureau not only for its Students
but for general reference
The exterior simplicity of this lstest ad-
dition to the gresrer American laboratories
Of America Is worthy. of notice It rests
upon permanent foundations yet Is 50 sim
ply constructed that II could be torn down
and rebuilt without mourning any serious
Some of the German universities are al |
ready hzmpere6 by buildings too wen built
intellectually to be economically renod-
eied 70 accommodate some Of the mere
modern laboratory machinery.
-.