El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-03-23


American Institute of Electrical
Engineers at Charlotte, North
Carolina. will bring out many inter-
esting discussions of the problems that
confront the electrical world This
body of men constitute a sort of court
of last resort in affairs electrical, not
so much in the way of invention as in
devising ways and means toward max
ing all electrical progress available
for 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-
Storage Battery Street Car.
- 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 have
been made which prove that it is a
mechanical success and if it works as
well commercially urban transporta-
ton problems will undergo as great a
change as marked the passing of the
horse car and the coming of the troll
ley.
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 equipment underground troiIeys
and overhead wires. Now comes the
storage battery car with claims for
preference, which the New York trials
under actual transportation conditions
seem TO vindicate. The cost of opera
ton is very much less, and the cost Of
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 a slot,
or overhead wires TO be broken in case
of sleet or storms
Boon to Ambitious.
The storage battery street car will
prove boon TO the ambitious, but
embryo metropolis that fiourishes in
almost 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 a 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 a
horse of skin and bone and SPAWN,
dragging the car along at snail's
pace, the passenger has a horse Of
metal and chemical riding beneath his
feet and carrying him as il goes-a
horse which is never liable to con-
demnation by local society for the
prevention of cruelty to animals.
Televfsion Telephone
In these days when wonder follows
wonder with lightning-like rapidity in
the field of electrical invention, the
latest announcement of a teIevision
telephone does not tax the credulity as
much as the telegraph instrument did
two or three generations ago. This
great idea no longer exists merely in
the fevered Imagination of some Jules
Verne-it is now in actual process of
accomplishment Think of it. 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 wei
developed as was wireless telegraphy a.
decade ago.
1t all is to come about through the
discovery that one OF the. elements
known as selenium will conduct cleo
tricity when subjected to light, and is
a non-eonductor when in the dark The
degree of it's conductivity depends upon
the intenseness of light and shade
In the transmitter there is a frame
filed with selenium 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 projected onto the
cells, and those on which the light
falls send currents of varying intensity
out upon 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 transmittGr are gath
cred 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 Fournier.
Quarter Meters for ELECTRICITY
For many years the quarter-in-the-
slot gas meter has been in successful
use. but the application of the same
principle TO the sale of electrical CTR
rent is a comparatively new thing
When the consumer wants a quarters
worth OF electricity me 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
turaI lands above and below Elenhant