Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-24

the electrical world. rms
| body of men constitute a sort of court
of last resort in affairs electrical, not
so much in the way of invention as In
de,ising ways and means toward max
ing all electrical progress available foI
the use of the race. They are mainly
men who are connected with the big
electric establishments of the country
and they discuss kilowatts, amperes
ohms, armatures and such things In an
intimate way that is quite confusing
to the layman.
One of the most important problems
in the field of electricity is that of the
commercial practicability of the new
storage battery street car Trials nave
been made which prove that 1t is a
mechanical success, and If it works as
well commercially urban transportation
problems will undergo as great a
change as marked the passing of the
horse car and the coming of the trolley.
For years the central power plant mas
been considered the last word In the
economical operation of street car
systems although its installation has
meant the expenditure of millions for
plant equipment. underground trollcys
and overhead wires. Now comes the
storage battery car with claims Tor
preference. which the New York trials
seem to Vindicatc. The cost of opera
ton is very much less, and the cost or
installation amounts to even still less.
Moving independent of every other car
on the line, so far as motive power is
concerned. there can be no tieup on
account of the Juice" giving out. There
are no plows to get stuck in slot or
overhead wires to be broken in case
of SleCt or storms.
The storage battery street car VIII
prove a boon TO the ambitious but em-
bryo metropolis that fourishes in al
most every county The prohibitive cost
of installation has prevented many
small places from having street car
systems. with the storage battery car
all that needs to be done is to lay
track. buy the cars and street car
system is ready for the gala day of
formal opening Thus the horse car
has come back, with the exception that
instead of horse Of skin and bone and
SPAWN, dragging the car along at
snails pace, the passenger has a horse
of metal and chemical riding beneath
his feet and carrying him as it goes
a horse which is never liable to con-
domination by a local Society for the
Prevention Of Cruelty to Animals.
In these days when wonder follows
wonder with lightning-lil<e rapidity in
the field of, electrical invention, the
latest announcement of a teleVision
telephone does not tax the credulity
as much as the telegraph instrument
did two or three generations ago. rms
great ideas no longer exists merely IN
the feVered imagination of some Jules
Verne-it is now i'm actual process of
ACCOMPLISHMENT Think of II, Going
to your telephone and seeing the per-
son at the other end Of the wire,
though miles and mountains lie be
tween. The idea is said to be as well
developed as was wireless biography
a decade ago II all is to come about
through the discovery that one of the
elements known as selenum will con-
duct electricity when subjected to
light. ana is a nou-Conduct0r when i'm
the dark. The degree Of it's conduc
tivitv depends upon the intenseness
of light and shade.
In the tranSmittcr there Is frame
filled with Sclonium cells like honey
comb i'm tho little pound boxes found
in the grocery store. by means of "A
strong light mirror and a lens the
image Of an object is projected onto
the cells. and those on which the light
falls send currents of varying intensity
out upon a revolving wheel called the
collector. This collector turns very
rapidly and transmits the electrical
impulses TO the receiving station. At
the receiving end the impulses sent out
by the transmitter are gathered and
into light rays again
through peculiar chemical-mechani-l
cal process. Thus is the exact dupli-
cate of the image at the transmitting
end reproduced at the receiving end.
The apparatus is the invention of two
foreign scientists, Messrs. RignOuX and