The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-26
Things Electrical
from the Electric News Service.

From the Electric News Service.
 Electrical exports are increasing.
 Switzerland Is planning to electrify all its railroads.
 Small bakeries now use electric pow CT for dough mixing, etc.
 Electric power Is extensively used in the reduction of gold ore.
 Detroit will use Canadian electrical power for manufacturing purposes.
 Nearly 400 houses were recently wired for electricity in Lancaster, Pa.
 Chicago and Albany lead in the aver age number of people per telephone with S.1 for each phone.
 Women electricians are being trained in electrical work in England, owing to the scarcity of workingmen.
 Electric radiators were used to heat a school building in Duluth during a recent cold snap when the boilers failed.
 Argentina leads South American in the total number of telephones, having 75,O00 two years ago, but Uruguay has more per capita.
 The large searchlights used by the General Electric company for spectac- ular illuminating effects at the Panama Pacific exposition have been sold to the Russian government.
 By installing electric power in nearly every mining camp of importance in Montana 1t has been made possible for operators to resume work on proper ties which otherwise would have been idle. This has done more to reduce the cost of mining than any other thing.
 It was only four years ago that cleo tric starting and lighting systems were put to use on automobiles. Less than 2 per cent of the cars made in 1912 were equipped this way. The growth of this industry is shown by the fact that over 9S per cent of the 1916 models are equipped with these sys- tems.
 The production of tungsten ores in the United States during 1915 broke all records. It was equivalent to about 2l65 short tons of concentrated. carry ing 60 per cent of tungsten trioxide. and was valued at more than $2,000,OoO. The largest previous output of tung- sten ore was in 1910, when 1921 tons was produced The price of tungsten as metal, or ferro-tungsten rose $1 pound in January, 1915, to $S a pound in December.
 The experiment station of the Amer ican Radio and Research company at Tufts college has been completed and experiments have begun. The tower which will replace the one nearly com pleted that blew over last fall is over 800 feet high. being the largest in New England and the third largest in the United States. It is supported on four especially designed porcelain insulators inserted in 15 tons of reinforced con- crete. This station, as the name of the company indicates, will be devoted entirely to research problems in the wireless field.
 The New York city street cleaning department is now using gasoline-e1ec- tric tractors for the collection of ashes. garbage and street sweepings and for mechanical sweeping and flushing of streets. These tractors, which were built by the General Vehicle company, have 40-horse power gasoline mo- tor which drives 15-l<ilowatt 125-volt generator supplying the driving and other motors. For flushing the streets the trailer carries a tank holding 1500 gallons of water, from which the water is pumped electrically. The trailer Is also provided with a rotary broom driven by an electrical motor