Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-24

The Forthcoming meeting OF the Amer
lean Institute OF Electrical Engineers at
Charlotte. N. c.. will bring out many in
teresting discussions OF the problems that
coufronts the electrical world. This body
Of men constitute a sort OF court Of last
resort in affairs electrical, not 90 much
In the way Of invention as IN devising
ways and means toward making all cleo
trical progress available for the use OF the
race. They are mainly men who are con-
neoted with the big electric establishments
Of the country. and they discuss kilowatts,
amperes, ohms, armatures and such things
in an intimate way that 10 quite confusing
to the layman.
One OF the most. important problems in
the field Of electricity Is that OF the com
mercial practicability OF the new storage
battery street car. Trials have been made
which prove that II Is a mechanical sue
cess, and II IT works as well COM
mercially urban transportation problems
will undergo as great a change as marked
the passing OF the horse car and the com
ing Of the trolley. For years the central
power plant has been considered the last
word in the economical operation of street
car systems, although its installation has
meant the expenditure OF millions for plant
4%AA@A 0hAN NbAAN9a aAAA W.
head wires. Now comes the storage bait
terry car with claims for preference, which
the New York trials under actual trans
portation conditions seem to vindicats.
The cost Of operation is very much less,
and the cost Of installation amounts to
even etill less. Moving Independent of
every other car on the line, so far as
motive power Is concerned, there can be
no tle-up on account Of the Juice giving
out. There are no plows TO get stuck in
a slot, or overhead wires 70 be broken In
case Of sleet or storms.
The storage battery street car will prove
a boon to the ambitious. but embryo
metropolis that flourlshes in almost every
country. The prohibitive cost of installa-
ton has prevented many small places
from having street car systems. With
the storage battery car all that needs to
be done is to lay a track, buy the cars
and a street car system is ready for the
gala day Of formal opening. Thus the
horse car has come back, with the ex-
ceptlon that instead Of a horse Of skin and
bone and SPAWN, dragging the car along
at a snail's pace, the passenger has a horse
Of metal and chemical riding beneath his
feet and carrying him as 1t goes-a horse
which Is never liable to condemnation by
y local boc1eIy Tor the prevention OF
Cruelty to Animals.
In these days when wonder follows wOE-
der with lightning like rapidity in the field
Of electrical invention, the announcement
OF a televislon telephone does not tax the
credulity as much as the telegraph instru-
ment did two or three generations ago.
This great idea no longer exists merely
in he fevered imagination OF some Jules
Verne-it is now in actual process Of &C
complishment. Think Of Il! Going to your
telephone and seeing the person at the
other end Of the wire, though miles and
mountains lie etween. The idea is said
to be as well developed 9s was wireless
telegraphy a decade ago. 1t all is to come
about through the discovery that one OF
the elements known as selenlum will con-
duct electricity when aubjected to light,
and Is a -non-conductor when in the dark.
The degree OF its conductivity depends
upon the intenseness Of light and shade.
In the transmitter there Is a frame filled
with Eeleniuma cells like honey-comb in the
little pound, boxes found in, the grocery
store. BY means OF a strong light, a mirror
and a lens the image OF an object is pro-
jected onto the cells, and those on which
the light falls send currents Of varying
intensity out upon a revolving wheel. called
Jne collectOrs 1nlS collector turns very
rapidly and transmits the electrical i'm
pulses to the receiving station. At the re-
%celving end the impulses sent out by the
transmitter are gathered and transformed
Into light rays again through a peculiar
chemical-mechanical process. Thus Is the
exact duplicate Of the Image at the trans
hitting end reproduced at the receiving
end. The apparatus is the invention of two
foreign scientists, Messrs, Rignoux and
Fourier.
For many years the qusrter-in-the-slot
gas meter has been In successful use, but
the application OF the same principle to
the sale of electrical current 10 a compara
lively new thing. When the consumer wRntH
a quarters worth Of electricity he has
merely to drop his money in the meter
slot, the coin releasing the mechanism
which permits him to turn on the switch.
When the paid-for supply Is exhausted. q
warning flicker announces the approach OF
darkness and the machine virtually de
mands your money or your light" slo
machines for the sale of illuminants arr
not great successes from the standpoint
Of the seller, because they incline to teach
economy to the consumer. The majority OF