Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-10-01
ELECTRIC SCIENCE BRIEFS.

Electricity Is life IL hacknoyed
aphor!sm. but from such result one
can only conclude that vitality and cleo
tricity are synonymous When. there
fore, you partake of fruit. though you
seem to be merely gratifying n natural
appetite, you arc IN reality absorbing a
certain proportion of electric energy into
the system. For the innocent looking
redchecked apple Is nothing more or
less than small electric accumulator
1t possesses. II Is true, only small unit
of electric energy, but this energy is
sufficient to be detected by an extremely
sensitive instrument like the Kelvin gal
vanometer.
A Jersey city inventor has produced
an electric egg beater for hotels and
restaurants where eggs are used in large
quantities. Like most electrical devices
IL is case of you press the button and
the machine does the rest. The boater
consists OF a vertical support. with an
arm holding the egg heater shaft Below
this is an adjustable bracket. provided
with bowl, in which the eggs are
placed. by pressing the button the beat
er Is set to revolving swiftly in the bowl
ana quickly produces tho desired result
The Elcetrolyzer" is a device for pro-
ducing clothes bleaching llnuid by cleo
tricity from ordinary salt brine. The new
method. 1t is claimed, saves linen, takes
the place of chloride of lime. or other
bleaches, and reduces the cost of the
bleach from 80 to 30 per cent. The new
machine can be used In laundres. paper
mills, pulp mills, cotton mills. etc.
A new electric device has lust heon
nat fnl
with the clothes on. Electric heated
Plates which are squeezed together By
levers are used TO put the creases in
the trusers.
The longest transmission line in the
world Is that from De Sable to Sauselito
in northern California. Its length Is 2s2
miles. The transmission line from
Niagara Falls to Syracuse is los miles
long and is next TO the De Saba line in
length.
The government of Bavaria is taking
preliminary steps for the substitution of
| electric power. produced from waterfalls
for steam power on the State owned rail-
| roads. Careful and exhaustive SURVEYS
and estimates were made In advance.
and provision has just been made for the
| first installment OF the funds to be ex-
pended for this purpose. The first cleo
trical installations are to be on three
lines located near the Austrian frontier.
In the lakes and rivers OF the Bavarian
Alps there Ia an abundant source of sup
ply for water power. but imperfectly
utilized at present Tho existing falls
alone It Is estimated. would furnish 800 =
0o0 horse power
The isthmian canal commission has or
dered of the General Electric company
six vertical Curtis steam turbine genera
tors OF 800 XIV. 200 horse power each.
Thomas w. Lee, until two years ago
general passenger agent Of the Delaware,
Lackawanna & Wester railroad is the
first man In the world to farm by cleo
tricity Lee owns The Bungalow" a
tract OF more than eco acres near idaho
Falls and all he has to do do now when
he wishes to farm. is to push button.
Electricity does the rest. The grain was
reaped, staked. threshed. sacked and
made ready for market by electricity.
Mr. Lee also did his haylng by cleo
tricity
Nitrogen extracted from the air by cleo
tric!ty Is the best fertilizer in the world.
| The process is being tried out In Nor
way ACCORDING 10 the report Just Is
| sued by the company. the total produc-
| ton al their new works during the first
three MONKS of the current year was
| 1,o5s tons Of nitrate and 10 tons Of sodium
nitrate At the smaller experientaI plant,
| which has been running since 1905 by the
| Norwegian Hydroelectrical Nitrate com.
| pany, over thousand tone were pro-
| duced last year. so that some progress
10 certainly being made. though the out
put ~ course, Is still almost inappreci-
BILE regards the worlds consumption
A ton Of nitrogen requires eight or nine
horsepower per year for conversion into
fertilizer