Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-12-16
IN The FIELD OF ELECTRICITY
Recent PROGRESS Made in Science and
Practical Application.
ELECTRFcATloN OF RAILWAYS UNDER WAY
PennsyIvnnia and baltimore a ohio
Lines Decline to Accede 20 De-
mands Of the District Of
Columbia Commission.

The Pennsylvania and the Baltimore a
Ohio railroads have declined to accede to
tho request of the commissioners Of the
District Of Columbia that they substitute
electric motors for steam locomotives
within the District. The inconvenience OF
making the change Is the ground on which
the refusal is based. the president Of the
former road saying Il would be seriously
Objectionable in view Of the high speed
service which we propose 70 establish be-
tween washington and the north" The
commissioners, not satisfied with the an
swer, purpose 20 appeal TO congress to COM
pel by law what the roads are not ready
voluntarily to grant.
A few evenings ago in an address before
a gathering of men on Railroads and
Early Transportation" relates the Boston
Transcript, Colonel ]. II. Benton jr., for
many years counsel for the New York,
New Haven & Hartford road, ventured the
prediction that in the future, not 30 dis
tant but that II would fan within the ex-
perience OF those there present, railroad
development would reach a point that
would make all that has now been achieved
seem as comparatively primitive as the
groupings of two generations ago in this
new field now appear to us; and he init
mated that electricity would be the me-
dium through which this transformation
would be brought about. Two or three
years ago, when his words carried farther
than they do now, Chauncey M. Depew
made this statement before a meeting OF
the Transportation club in New York: II
predict that ten years from tonight locomo-
tivss will be in the museums, while we
4. o1tpptuu tho seconds
OF seventy-fve miles an hour, by electric
motors"
without attempting 70 fix the rating OF
these gentlemen as prophets they doubtless
knew what the trend of discussion was in
the large railroad councils on this question.
The progress made by the New York, New
Haven & Hartford I'm the application of
electrical force IN its business is more con-
vincing evidence Of the general tendency in
this direction than any amount OF prophecy.
The New York Central has almost COM
pleted a long stretch, prepared for cleo
trical traction, from the Grand Central
depot. This has been partly the result OF
pressure or compulsion, but it has carried
the new departure farther than it was COM
p,lled to, evidently with reference to longer
aid larger extensions in the future.
To electrize the main systems Of steam
roads in this country within the next
decade would be less Of radical advance
than it has been to change from horse and
cable cars in all the cities in the period
not much longer than that, and it would
not surprise us TO see the Pennsylvania
road going not only into and out of Wash
ington under that power but employing 1t
for the whole distance. A "hish-speed
service between Washington and the north
would then have n larger significance than
the same terms carry now. The big lines
do not like to be hurried. but they are
quietly adjusting their business in many
quarters to the new conditions
seIective wireless System.
Prof Ferdinando Lori of the School of
Engineering Padua, Italy, Is the inventor
of a new arrangement or system of wire
less signalling in which phenomenon of
electromagnetic resonance is utilized for
obtaining a separation Of the radio-tele-
graphic signs. A nonmagnetic metallic
wire Is extended between two points, hav-
ing the north and south poles Of the mag
net on each side of the wire near its center.
The wire is Joined up to a detector of cleo
trio waves and a battery. The tension Of
the wire is so controlled that when vibra-
ting freely It performs a predetermined
number Of vibrations every second. If the
emitted from a radiator with the same
freouence n.-viz: by oscillatory sparks pro-
duced with a speed per second-the cleo
trio wave detector will be influenced n
times per second and the current passing
through the wire is pulsating or alternate
current having the same frequence n. The
wire is in this way enabled to act as the
receiver OF wireless signals only If they
are emitted by series of sparks at a rate
OF n per second. This apparatus Is there
fore selective Of the message received.
German Lamp.
According to L Electrician some exhaust
i've trials recently made in Germany OF
the Ostram lamp have given the following
results. The lamps were Of thirty-two and
fifty Hefner candlepower, respectively, and
were tested at from 100 to 100 volts, with a
consumption equivalent TO one watt pei
candlepower. The duration OF the test
was 1000 hours and the diminution in can
dlepower at the end OF the tests is stated
T. have been almost negligible e., about
per cent From the tabulated results II
rppears that a thirty-two candlepOwer o.
AN lamp shows a saving of current
,aarged at pence per XIV, amounting to
shillngs per 1000 hours over a carbon fila,
ment lamp rated at the same candlepower
With a fifty candlepower Osram lamp tn,
equivalent saving in current to obtain al
equal amount OF light per 1000 hours is ap
proximately 90 shillings. 1t is stated tina
this new lamp burns also at much less cos
than the tantalum OF the Nernst lamps anS
radiates 20 per cent less heat than the or
binary carbon flament lamp.
New Carbon FiIRment.
What appears to be a discovery Of som,
significance in relation TO electric incan
descent lamps has been made by Mr., JOIN
w. Howell. OF the American Institute o
Electrical engineers. It was described b!
him in paper read recently before tn,