Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-05-15
Notes From the Electrical Industry.


ton, so it would seem. A Schen
ectady man, who is an enthusiast
about electric heating and cooking
devices, has discovered q new and
valuable use for the small electric
water heater. Recently he was
suffering from rheumatism in one
knee and could find no relief until
he hit upon a happy scheme. Fill
ing the electric water heater he plac-
ed the vessel under the a f1icted joint
and turned on the current. With
wooden cloths he draped the knee
so as TO confne the steam. Now
the rheumatism is gone.
The General Electric Company re-
Gently closed a contract with rep
resentatives from Japan to cleo
trically equip 81, 900, 900 paper mill
for Toxic. 1t will be the largest
mill in the world.
A hundred years from now the
chimney will be thing of the past,
predicts Thomas A. Edison. He
says that the cities will be free from
steam and smoke, while the waste
OF coal and fuel will be stopped
through the use of electricity gener-
ated direct from the fuel without
the use of engine, boiler and dyna-
mo. In factories each machine
will have its individual motor.
Houses will be heated by electricity
and most of the city noises will
cease. He prophecies steel aud con-
crete sky-scrapers with bridged
streets, wireless communications of
all kinds, and faster, safer and bet
ter transit from country to country.
AID electriclcal substitute has
been found for the BARRIERS scissors.
The device consists of comb carry
ing along one side Of It's row OF teeth
a platinum wire through which
flows an electric current. AS the
comb passes through the locks to be
shorn. the heated wire instan-
taneously sewers the hairs, leaving
them of even length and sealing the
cut ends as in the ordinary process
of smuggling.
It is estimated that the tempera-
ture of the incandescent filament in
an ordinary electric lamp varies be-
tween 2, 489 degrees and $3.50 de-
grees Fahrenheit. This is percepti-
bly, lower than the melting point
of iron, which is about 2,912 de-
grees Fahrenheit. With the car
hon filaments a little thicker the
temperature rises so degrees above
the melting point of iron.
An electrical continuance is now
used in holets whereby the fact
that you are entering your room is
conveyed to the person having
charge of that floor.
In the Chicago Union station all
trains are announced by telephone
through megaphones. Six mega
phones have been installed in the
main waiting room and the an
nouncer, who is seated in the in
formation bureau, talks in a tele-
phone and his speech is repeated
six times simultaneously in the
waiting room.
The electrical industry has de
veloped many rare metals. The
minerals used in the manufacture
of electrical devices include tung
stem, tantalum, vanadium, man
ganese, uranium, thorium anC
yitrium. Owing to the high melt
ing point of the minerals they art
specially valuable in the manu-
facture of lamps and for hardening
tool steel. Texas is noted for it
deposits Of these rare minerals.
The largest machine shop in thu
world is located at the Schenectady
plant of the General Electric com
pany. ThisImammoth building covers
nearly six acres of ground under
the one roof and contains nearly Il
acres of floor space. There is room
uuder It's ample roof for a third mile
race track or three three ring cir
cuses. The building is known az
Shop No. sc and is used exclusively
FOR the manufacture Of the Curtis
steam turbine generators for electric
power plants.